Counter Stools

[Cheater Hollander]

"Brooklyn, hm?" Cheater raised an eyebrow as she looked Jewel over again, reassessing her based upon this new information. She didn't look like a Brooklyn-type girl... Just seemed too friendly, but perhaps that was only on the surface. And besides, what did she know about Brooklyn? She had been in the Bronx throughout the entirety of her newspaper-selling career. "Well, welcome to the Bronx, I guess..."

At Jewels' question, Cheater shrugged. "I went all over... I guess I stayed mostly around Virginia... S'nice down there. Really interesting people. But I wasn't gonna stay-- I always end up coming back here." Cheater didn't see much of a point in moving. The majority of her friends were centered in New York, her childhood, and the only profession she felt she was truly good at. Sure, you couldn't be a newsie when you were older than about twenty, maybe 21 if you looked old enough, but Cheater was sure something would come along and strike her fancy.

[jewelkent]

Jewel nodded "Yup, Brooklyn born and raised. But now it doesn't seem like much of a home to me anymore. I like it here in the Bronx a lot better though...and most of the girls at the Lodging House are so nice. I got into one scuffle at the house on my first night there, but it's been good despite that one little problem. Thanks so much for the welcome however." She said.

Jewel looked impressed when she heard where Cheater had been all this time "Wow, Virginia, huh? That's fascinating. The only places I've been outside of New York are Philadelphia and New Orleans, my boyfriend in Philadelphia took me and 3 other newsies to New Orleans one summer when we were 12. It was incredible. Have you ever been to New Orleans? You'd love it." She explained.

Jewel then sighed as her bowl of soup was placed in front of her. She then turned back to Cheater "So, I hope you don't mind me askin', but... Do you have any family out here?" She asked her.

[Cheater Hollander]

Cheater shook her head. "I haven't been that far, yet... mostly, I've been out west and a little ways Into the south, but Florida sounds beautiful." Cheater glanced away from Jewel at her quickly cooling soup but chose to go for the bread first. She took a bite and chewed slowly, savoring the taste of it as she Listened to Jewel's question. After swallowing the bread she thought for a moment.

"Ionno," Cheater said at last, "might be, but I've never met 'em if they're here. Me an' my mom lived by ourselves. Besides," she took a small bite of bread before continuing (nevermind that it was rude-- manners could be forgotten sometimes), "even if they were living here, I betcha they're rich and wouldn't wanna admit to being related to someone like me." Cheater made a motion as if she was dismissing the thought. "Whaddabout you?"

[jewelkent]

Jewel looked impressed when she heard where Cheater had been traveling to.

"Wow, that's lovely. Florida is really nice, that's what I heard anyway. If you ever get to go to New Orleans, you will love it... I guarantee that." She said.

Jewel looked towards her soup, and took a little bit of it, and ate it. She sighed heavily when Cheater asked if she had any family.

"I was born into a rich family. But I gave up my High Society life when my parents died. My older sister is still alive, but I haven't seen her in 5 years. She loved the high society life, so I don't know what she's up to now-a-days. I heard she was in New York, but I don't know where." She said, her eyes taking on a sad look.

Jewel quickly changed the subject "Maybe one day, you can meet my boyfriend though. He's very sweet. A little bit of prankster at times, but he's a great guy." She said, a smile tugging at her lips.

[Cheater Hollander]

Cheater took that moment to dunk a piece of her bread into her soup. She watched it for a moment, before picking up the small piece and shoving it into her mouth in an attempt to keep any soup from dripping onto the countertop. As a few drops escaped, she wiped them up with her sleeve, hoping that the action didn't look quite as uncivilized as she thought it had. "How 'bout you try t'find her, hm?" She asked once she had swallowed the food. "I mean," she flicked a small crumb off the surface of the counter, "s'pose she's been looking for you? You don't want her t'worry."

She hoped she wasn't being too forward. Sometimes, although this was becoming more of a rare occurrence as she got older, she had a habit of butting a little too much into a person's private affairs; giving them advice that they didn't need or want, on a situation she had little to no knowledge of. In her mind, Cheater re-assessed her statement, and then smiled apologetically at Jewel. "Sorry-- s'not really my place t'say, is it?" That and, considering Jewel had no idea where her sister was, the search would be a difficult one.

At the mention of Jewel's boyfriend, Cheater wrinkled her nose. It wasn't the boyfriend himself that bothered her, so much as it was the idea of being so attached to someone. To need someone that much... she couldn't see it. That, and she had seen enough men (or so she thought) that she couldn't really see anything special about them. To her, they were just... men. Perhaps she was being a bit cynical-- perhaps she had relied too much on the Prince Charming in the fairytales her mother had told her, but Cheater had decided long ago that if she never married that was fine with her.

Realizing that Jewel may have thought the expression was directed at her boyfriend, Cheater smiled at the girl. "He seems nice... did he come with you to New York?"

[jewelkent]

Jewel listened as Cheater told her that maybe Lydia was looking for her as well. That made Jewel almost want to cry, cause she'd never thought of that.

"I never thought of that actually. But, I wouldn't know where to look for her anyway. I've tried looking for her since I got back from 6 months ago from Philadelphia. I'm at my wits end 'ere, Cheater." She said sadly.

Jewel looked up at Cheater again when she apologized for asking about everything

"Oh no please...don't apologize. It feels good to know that someone gives a damn about my situation. Plus, you really opened my eyes to the realization that my sister maybe looking for me as well. But we'll never be able to totally find each other, cause neither one of us knows where the other one is." She sighed, a sad look crossing her face suddenly.

When Cheater asked Jewel if Jacob had come to New York with her, a lone tear left her eye. Wiping it really quickly, Jewel smiled slightly

"Oh he is very nice. I hope you get to meet him. Last I heard from him, he got my last letter to him, and he was coming to New York. I hope he got here." She sighed.

Jewel then smiled at Cheater "Ya know, I'm really glad I met you. Someone who lives in the same place I do. Someone who understands me. It's nice to make friends." She said to Cheater.

[Cheater Hollander]

Cheater nodded, although it was a bit quick for her to be calling Jewel a 'friend'. An acquaintance, perhaps, but 'friends' were something within a category of their own. A friend was someone who one told their secrets to. If Cheater classified someone as a 'friend' and truly meant it, it meant that she trusted them to like her with all her quirks and faults. While she may have told Jewel some of her history, it was nothing deep enough to warrant an immediate friendship.

Nevertheless, she was touched that Jewel thought of her as a friend. In addition, she was sure that she and the other girl would get closer. If she wished to think of Jewel as a friend, many more meetings were necessary, anyway. She had to determine how trustworthy the other girl was (and she had learned that the hard way). "Yeah," she said at last, nodding slightly, "it's always fun to make new ones-- you can never have enough."

[jewelkent]

Jewel nodded in agreement when Cheater said something about how you can never have enough friends. She smiled at Cheater, as she finished up the last of her soup.

"I agree...you can never have too many friends. I try to make as many as possible. I get lonely very quickly, and I like to have some people to talk to, ya know?" She asked.

Jewel laughed "I'm glad I came in here, and met you. Sometimes having a port in the storm like this is a perfect place to meet new people...but I'm even more shocked to discover that you work in the same place as me. I guess it really is a small world after all, huh?" She said with a chuckle.

[Cheater Hollander]

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Cheater replied. "I get like that, too. S'why I try to get to know at least one person in every place I stop." She shrugged slightly, as if the acquaintances were not as important as they really were. In reality, she relied upon these people to keep her up-to-date with what was going on in the world and, if she needed to leave, she could leave knowing there was a place for her to stay somewhere. It was nice, that sense of security.

Cheater laughed softly. In a way, New York was its own little world. So densely populated and so many different groups of people, so many different age groups and so many lives all in one area. It boggled her mind, but in a good way. "I never thought've it that way. I mean-- I never worked outside of the Bronx before... so maybe I don't see as many kids from outside the Bronx."

[jewelkent]

Jewel smiled "I love having people to talk to. It's very refreshing. I never needed to worry about making friend when I lived in Philadelphia, because I had a lot of them. But to come back to New York, only to realize that you're only living family member may be dead, and the love of your life from Philly no longer cares for you...it's the most painful thing in the world. But that's why I met you and a few other nice people. So I can learn to keep my mind off all the bad stuff that seems to be happening to me lately." She explained to Cheater.

Jewel nodded when she heard what Cheater said about never working with kids outside the Bronx. "Oh God... I've learned my lesson about working outside of the Bronx. The only other place I would've rather worked besides here would be Manhattan. But I'm glad that I'm here in the Bronx...at least it ain't Brooklyn." She said, with a smile.

[Cheater Hollander]

"Well, if y'ever need someone to talk to," Cheater trailed off, making a motion with her hand as if to say 'you know what I mean', while finishing off the rest of her soup. She gave a content sigh, and beamed at Jewel. "I mean, I dunno if I can give you advice on anything, but I'm a good listener if you catch me in th' right mood."

Which wasn't to say that Cheater was a bad listener the other times, but there were days when she had more energy than she could deal with. Those days, it was just more difficult for her to pay attention. To have a conversation with her during those periods was more or less like talking to a small child-- she had the tendency to blather on about trivial things and get distracted easily. However, as she got older these spells were beginning to decrease.

She wrinkled her nose again. "Brooklyn. I never really liked that place... s'not for me. Too rough. But Queens. Queens is good... Manhattan's okay, they're really... close there, I guess." But, of course, this was all a generalization. After all, it's difficult to make observations about a place one rarely visits. Cheater, for all her travels, had failed to explore New York as extensively as she might have wanted to. "But I love th' Bronx, I feel like I've been here forever."

[jewelkent]

Hearing Cheater offer herself up as someone that Jewel could talk to made Jewel smile brightly. She finished off her soup as well, enjoying what was left of the warm meal. She looked back at Cheater, and nodded.

"Oh believe me, if I'm feelin' down, and you're 'round at 'da Lodging House or whateva...you'll be 'de first one I'se talk ta." She told Cheater.

Jewel smiled some more as she recalled some advice she had gotten about making friends a little while ago. "Ya know, Cheater. A very good-lookin' Irish man once told me that once you have someone who understands you, you're on your way to making friends, and after talking with you today. I realised that I can definitely consider you a friend." she said, patting Cheater on the shoulder.

Jewel thought for a moment as she heard Cheater tell her what borough she liked and disliked. After a while, Jewel nodded in agreement.

"Oh I agree about Brooklyn. I was born there, and it's not the same to me anymore. Been to Queens twice, it's a nice area. Don't even allow me to go on and on about how I would love to be in Manhattan. But as long as I'm in the Bronx...and I have friends like you and a leader like Lexi. This borough will be where I hang my hat for a good long while." Jewel said.

[map]

Thomas Alexander Evans stepped into the small restaurant. Stu's was supposed to be the hanging place for the Bronx newsies. Being the new immigrant to the area, he figured; by assumption that this would be the place to learn the area and get inside on who was in charge.

Thomas, AKA Map, who give his name by the badly ruined and folded map of New York, hidden between his hair and his hat. In truth he made up the name. While still living with his family he had a run in with a Queens newsies a long time ago. Learning bits a pieces about what it was like and most importantly what it took. So name giving; it sounded like was up to the newsie to decide.

The room was not busy, but not empty either. Choosing carefully he moved to the large bar in the corner and choose a seat that was not occupied on either side. Waiting a bit he dished out a penny and bought a cup of coffee.

As it was handed to him the strangest sensation came with it. In Boston as his father and mother used to tell him; coffee used to go with every meal. It wasn't a meal without coffee. So now growing up in that mindset, not having coffee in the morning or afternoon felt very wrong. Having this small cup in front of him almost sent him into a nostalgia state. He'd been away from them for nar-say 8 months. He'd been doing alright though, doing odd jobs for food and a place to stay, but it might be time to start thinking about later options, and the newsies might be a good place to start. Here he could make 8 cents a day and could save up.

So sitting in the stool, in a small restaurant, in the middle of the Bronx. Map would start his new life.

(You'll have to excuse my writing, I'm a bit out of practice and haven't had an English class in forever.....)

[Gianna Mancini]

Gianna entered Stu's quietly, the only indication that she had was the bell over the door that announced her arrival. She was pleased to see that it wasn't crowded - as crowds had a tendency to make her nervous and set her on edge; instead the restaurant was comfortably populated with a few tables throughout occupied and the bar was even less dense with people. She had stopped in at Stu's on a rather impulsive whim, having wandered out of Queens after passing off her papers to some of the younger newsies, and had taken to walking along the streets. Her feet had lead her into the Bronx, home to a few friends and familiar to Gianna in the way that so many of the streets had become over the years. She'd had no intended destination, only a desire for a bit of fresh air and taking Prince's advice not to hole up at the lodging house while the others were out.

The smells coming from the tiny place as she had passed had been impossible to ignore, particularly when her stomach had rumbled in protest as she'd made to pass it by, much as she had so often before. With a few coins in her pocket from an unlikely run with her papes the day before, Gianna gave into temptation and headed inside. The scent was stronger here, smelling rather like she might imagine home would if she'd ever had one. Warm and comforting with the scent of spices and fresh baked bread swirled in the air as she walked towards the bar and plucked herself down on a stool, one away from a young man with dark hair and solitary look about him. After careful consideration, Gianna ordered a small bowl of stew when a waitress paused to ask what she wanted and reaching into the pocket of her skirt she retrieved and carefully counted out the necessary amount. It would take a good chunk of what she made, but Gianna had a feeling it might be worth it - and with that thought bringing a small smile to her face, she cast her eyes around the room, surveying her surroundings.