Fountain

[Administrator]

An old fountain that barely runs anymore.

[Antoinette Dubois]

*NEW DAY*

Antoinette had taken to walking around central park nearly every day. It was necessary since her father and his new little wife were in town. She couldn't wait for them to leave. It was far too stifling in the house with them there, especially the little bride who was barely older then Antoinette herself.

Letting out a small sigh, Antoinette sat on the edge of the fountain, not minding that it was dirtying her dress a bit. She loved this fountain and was so glad she stumbled upon it not long after she'd moved here. Hardly anyone ventured over here because of how broken down the fountain was. It gave her time with her thoughts although she wouldn't mind having company now.

[Milo]

Milo had been having a pretty good selling day so far. He’d sold to his handful of regular customers, most of them old ladies or normal ladies with babies who would coo at him forever about how adorable he was or how he was he was too thin, but never really bothered to ask his name. Then he’d moved on around the schools and to the park, looking for more sales. He always sold the best to nannies or folks with kids. Older girls were pretty good too, so he always made sure to make it over to the nearest secondary school just before it started and, if he had any papers left, just as it ended. Right now, though, it didn’t seem like he’d have to go again today. It was at least an hour or two before the school let out and he only had two papers left.

Unfortunately, though, the fact that he had sold so many papes meant that there weren’t too many people in his usual spots who wanted to buy from him that didn’t already have a paper. So, as he wandered around central park, he kept a keen eye out for anyone who looked like they might be either interested in a newspaper or gullible enough to trick into buying one that they didn’t need. After a few unsuccessful minutes in the usual picnic spots and along the most frequently used trails, he resorted to trying some of the less popular areas. After all, he only needed to find two more people to buy from him. He was sure that there were at least two more people in the whole rest of the park and, if he was as lucky now as he’d been earlier in the day, he’d probably be able to find them. For awhile, he didn’t come across anybody, let alone someone who looked like they’d buy a pape from him. But, just when he was staring to think that maybe she should just go back and try a new place altogether, he spotted a lady sitting on an old, ugly-looking fountain in a real, real nice dress. She looked like she might have been a little too hoity-toity to bother with him, but other than that, she seemed like just the right type for a pity sale. So, he figured it was worth a shot.

He took his time approaching her, wanting to be sure that she wasn’t one of those real mean rich folks who might throw something at him or something. Once he got close enough to her, he unfolded his last two papes and held them in front of him so that she would be able to see the headline. And there he stood, wordlessly, watching her closely for a reaction. He really didn’t like to talk that much, especially with customers and he’d found, over the years (all two of them) that most people would buy from him either way. So, he just did it his way.

[Antoinette Dubois]

When Antoinette heard footsteps approaching her, she raised her head to see who it was. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose in disgust when she saw the dirty little boy. Didn't street trash know how to get clean? He was holding a paper in front of his face, so she assumed he was a newsie. They were a dirty lot, all of them. She usually avoided them completely but this little one had decided to intrude on her privacy. A devilish smile graced her lips as she stood, wiping off the back of her dress daintily.

"Aren't you supposed to hawk a headline or something of that nature?" She asked haughtily as she took a step forward and leaned down to read the headline. "Not a very interesting day for the news," She murmured more to herself then to the boy.

As she got closer, she got a better look at the boy and was a little appalled by his bony features. She snatched the newspaper from his hand before dropping it to the ground and grabbing his chin in her hand to tilt his face up. "Don't those little street urchins feed you?"

Normally, she wouldn't care but he just looked so young and pitiful that she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit sad for him. Not enough to really do something about it, but enough to try to question him at least. He was incredibly young looking and she knew most of the other newsies were teenagers at the very least. How this little kid had ended up on the street selling newspapers was beyond her. If he didn't have a family, he should be an orphanage where he'd at least get his meals.

[Milo]

Milo’s hopes of an easy sale were dashed when he saw the disgusted look that formed on the lady’s face the moment she laid eyes on him. That was the problem with trying to sell to the hoity toity folks. Half of the time, they just thought you were vermin and didn’t want to even be around you, let alone buy anything from you. Folks in the middle were the best. They had enough money to buy papes could almost all read and usually felt sorry for poor little urchins like him. But, there were still ways of getting a sale from people like this lady and he was determined to do it. Either he had to tell him some kind of story to make her feel sorry for him even though he wasn’t as proper as people she liked or he had to bother her enough that she would buy from him just to get him to leave her alone. The first way was quicker, but he needed an opening for it. So, he decided on the second way, which he used a lot more anyhow. If she didn’t like having him around, then he would just stick with her until she bought a pape or two. Chances are it wouldn’t take too long. After all, what were two pennies to someone with as much money as her?

He just stood there, staring at her, with his remaining papes held out towards her as she got up and walked over to him and even as she started talking to him. There was nothing that rich people hated more than being ignored. With that and following her around, he was bound to have these papers sold with plenty of time to play before it got dark. He made sure to keep a forlorn sort of look on his face all the while just in case the opportunity came up to make her pity him.

And, sure enough, only moments after she approached him, his efforts began to pay off. Though, it really didn’t seem like it at first. In fact, he was about ready to pull away from her and run after she took his pape, tossed it and pulled his chin up quickly enough to send a slight twinge of pain up his neck. But, just as quickly as he had begun to doubt how good an idea it was to stick around this lady, those doubts disappeared. As soon as his eyes met hers, he thought he could see a tiny hint of pity in them and, with her next, indignant words, he was sure of it. A change of plans was definitely in order. It was most definitely time for a sob story. As good as his actual story might be for making people feel sorry for him. He knew not to ever use it or any other story that let her know that his parents were dead. Going around telling people that could get him put in an orphanage and he really, really didn’t want that. So, he started his story with a lie, as always. “My papa feeds me if I sell all my papes.” He replied in a tiny, mournful voice “But… I can’t always. ‘specially wit’ bad headlines ” He couldn’t quite squeeze out any tears to go with his performance, so he just bowed his head and tried to look pitiful in hopes that she’d be moved to help out. He wasn’t quite sure it would work, though. She didn’t seem like the soft type, even if she did care a little whether he ate or not.

[Antoinette Dubois]

Her eyes narrowed slightly as he gave her some sob story. Unfortunately for him it seemed, she didn't buy a word of it. Her father had told her time and again that people who lived on the streets would say anything to wring a bit of change out of you. He had also told her the story of his father time and again who had gone to Georgia with barely anything to his name, yet had made himself rich and left a legacy for his son to grow and prosper with. She could hardly pity a boy when she'd been raised with that sort of mentality, even knowing she had more then he. She also didn't appreciate being lied to, so before she let go of the boys chin her fingers tightened a bit. "That's not an especially convincing story, if you want a tearjerker talk about how your mother recently passed or some such thing."

Antoinette was very skilled in the art of deception and this boy obviously wasn't. It was a cruel thing that he had no one to look out for him, but it seemed he'd rather be on the streets if he felt the need to lie about having a father. She pulled a quarter from her purse and placed it in his hand before turning and walking back over to the fountain. She sat down and acted as though the entire encounter had never happened. It was against her better judgment that she had given him anything at all so she was determined to pretend it had never happened.

[Milo]

Milo could tell that she hadn’t believed him even before she opened her mouth. First she looked annoyed and then she tightened her grip on his chin painfully before letting go. His eyebrows knitted together in frustration as she finally spoke up, confirming what he already knew. True, he hadn’t really thought that he was going to get anywhere with such a hoity toity sort of lady with nothing but a sad story but it sure would have been nice. Now he had to decide whether to follow her around until she got sick enough of him to buy a pape and make him go away and risk failing and wasting a ton of time or give up and hope he could find another customer before the secondary school let out and he had to resort to going down there to get cooed over by a bunch of girls. He really didn’t know which was worse.

But, to his great and pleasant surprise, his confliction promptly resolved when the lady reached into her purse and handed her a whole quarter. His eyes widened and for a few moments, he just stared at it. He could have spent all day selling papes and made just this much some days. He hadn’t made this much all at once without stealing it… well…ever. Eventually, his eyes wandered down to the two papes in his hand. He really didn’t have to sell them now and he was really bored of finding new customers. Plus, he was sure it couldn’t hurt to try out his plan b on her anyhow and maybe figure out why she didn’t believe his story too. He might get another quarter and a few extra tricks up his sleeve out of it.

His mind made up, he stuffed the quarter into his pocket and looked up to realize that the lady had gone back over to where she had been sitting before at the fountain. Quickly and determinedly, he walked over to the fountain, and scrambled up onto the edge a few feet away from her before sitting down. Usually, his plan b involved him staring silently at the person he wanted to sell to and following them around until they were annoyed enough to buy from him so that he would go away. But, he wouldn’t find anything out from her if he just stayed silent the whole time so, he piped up, in a quiet voice, “Da story’s good. Works all da time. How’dya tell it ain’t true?”