Just Allergies My Foot
a Newsies story
by Niki
"HeyCHOO!" Patch sneezed heavily to one side.
"Hey hey! Watch it!" Jack exclaimed walking past him.
"Oh," he sniffed. "Sorry."
Jacked clapped a hand on his friends back. "Caught Race's cold did you?"
"Nah, just allergies. Hur-choo!"
'Just an allergy my foot,' Jack thought the next morning as he awoke with his head pounding and his nose tickling something fierce.
"Hepchoo! Hetcchoo! Etchoo! Esshoo!" he sneezed wetly into his pillow. "Ugh…" he moaned. With every sneeze it felt like his head was going to explode. His heart pounded hin his ears and he lay his head back down. He could hear the ruckus of everyone waking up, but didn't want to move.
A quick slap to the back of his head made him jump, though. "Whatcha thinkin'?" he exclaimed.
"I'm thinkin' it's time to get up," Clopner, the old man who ran the boarding house answered.
Begrudgingly, Jack hung his legs over the edge of the bed. He felt like a ton of bricks had landed on him and the dust had settled in his nose.
"Heh-cha! Ehpshoo! Ekshnaa!" he sneezed into a cupped hand.
Getting ready for the day seemed to go by in a haze. He recalled thinking that Patch was being too quiet and that he thought he saw Crutchy sneeze a few times. But, he was too preoccupied with making sure nobody could tell he was sick to really notice.
"Seagulls mate with huma-humeHeachaa! humans!" he called out. "Thank ye' ma'am," he said as a woman bought a paper.
"Heh-chrm!" He sniffed. "Trolley 19 tumbles – kills hundreds… thank you, sir." He sniffed. He needed to blow his nose, but that wasn't an option. In retaliation, his nose started to tickle uncontrollably. "Hetchkurnm!" He covered the sneeze with his fist and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"Shut up you little gimp!" he heard echo down a side alley. There were plenty of cripples in the city, but only one he cared about. He took off at a quick trot down the alleyway.
It was the Delancy brothers beating on Crutchy, as it was their favorite past time. This time it seemed Crutchy had given them one heck of a good fight, but he was paying for it now.
"Fellas! Fellas! What seems to be the problem here?" Jack asked as nonchalantly as he could.
"This little gimp sneezed on me when he was collecting his papers this morning," Oscar yelled.
"I didn't mean to," Crutchy explained. "I just c-couldn-Hesshew!" He was really hurting, and closer to tears than Jack had seen him in years.
With a burst of rage, Jack punched Oscar in the jaw. Quick as a blink Jack, Morris and Oscar became a tangle of arms, clubs and fists. When it was over, Morris and Oscar were running and Jack was seeing spots.
When the blurriness stopped obscuring his vision, he went to Crutchy. "You all right?"
"Hetchew!" Crutchy nodded and sniffed weakly.
"Come on," Jack said, helping Crutchy to his feet. "Let's get you back to the boarding house."
Crutchy shook his head. "Can't afford it."
"I'll carry your papes for you… no charge."
Crutchy smiled. "Thanks Jack."
"It ain't nuthin'. It's not like you're a scab. Hetchrm! Hekatchassh! Etormshh!"
"You sick too, Jack?"
"Yea," he admitted, slowing down the pace so that Crutchy could keep up.
When they got back to the boarding house, Jack lay down for a few minutes, 'just to stay until Crutchy was asleep'. But, when the rest of the boys came back, they noticed both guys asleep and snoring soundly.
To stargazer
Some movie spoilers. I don't get paid for this. Don't sue.