Downstairs -- The Sofa

[Administrator]

Old but comfy!

[Jack Kelly]

((For Davey!))

Jack knew there were a lot more newsies than there were when he first started getting good at selling. But he didn't think there ever would be so many, everybody and their brother who passed him on the street already had a paper tucked under their arm. It took Jack at least an hour longer than usual to finish selling, and he'd had to walk all over Manhattan to get rid of the last one. He finally swindled some old dame, saying that there was something about an Astor family scandal, and she gave him a nickel.

He was unusually exhausted when he got back to the lodging house. Maybe it was the extra walking he had to do, as well as the mental strain of the past couple of days (weeks) but he was just exhausted. He felt like he hadn't slept in weeks. Had he? If he did, he didn't remember it. It seemed like his brain was always going, thinking about something or worrying about something else. He wondered how long it would be until the old gears started smoking and he got burned out...

He fell onto the sofa was a gargantuan sigh, and closed his eyes.

[David Jacobs]

David walked into the lodging house, veering over towards the sofa when he saw his best friend sprawled on the piece of furniture looking as though he'd trekked the city that day. He didn't want to admit it, but David had been kind of worried about Jack lately, he seemed so tired and some days wasn't even around...in fact David couldn't remember the last time they'd actually had a decent conversation. Not that Jack was entirely to blame for that one, David had been caught up with his own things lately.

"Long day?" He asked, plopping down onto the other end of the couch and kicking gently at Jack's leg with his foot. They all seemed like long days now and with the number of Newsies growing it seemed like they had to work even harder, everything since the warehouse had been such a disaster and David knew they were all still trying to pick up the pieces and move on. He just wondered if they ever really would.

[Jack Kelly]

Jack would have moved over to allow Dave a seat on the couch, but his exhaustion didn't really allow for that much movement at the moment. He shook his head in response to Dave, closed his eyes, sighed, and shifted with a great amount of effort. "Is there a cig onna table?" he muttered. He would have seen it, but he wasn't so sure. He didn't have any on him and they were pretty much the only thing allowing him to stay awake half the time.

"I'm so tired of this crap..." he said, running a hand down his face and blinking his eyes open.

[David Jacobs]

David glanced over at the table beside the sofa and spotted the cigarette that Jack had asked about and reached over to grab it, and held it out to his friend, a frown on his face. "You okay Jack?" He asked, concern finally getting the better of him, especially when he got a look at just how tired Jack looked. Leaning back against the sofa David studied him and crossed his arms over his chest - it had been far too long since they'd had a chance to talk away from all the others.

"Tired of what exactly?" He prodded, deciding that if Jack was in the mood to talk he was hardly going to stop him.

[Jack Kelly]

Jack took the cigarette and dug in his pocket for a match. "Depends on what you call okay," he said. He lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, for what seemed like an impossibly long time, and let out a sizeable cloud of white smoke.

He took another long drag and exhaled before speaking. "Just...everything. I'm too tired to even sleep these days..."

[David Jacobs]

David arched his eyebrow at his friend, unsure what to make of the admission. As long as he had known Jack he hadn't really known him to look so exhausted and like he just couldn't do it anymore - whatever it was. "What do you mean everything?" David tried again, never content to just let a matter lie, not when it came to his friends, especially Jack.

"Did something happen?" He asked, stretching his legs out in front of him and watching as a few pieces of dust danced in the air of the room. "I mean...what brought this on because you don't usually declare anything to be too much for you." He remember his first days as a Newsie, running the streets with Jack and topping it off with evenings at Irving Hall and dinner with his family. It seemed like they never got tired in those days...perhaps it was just that they had all gotten older - so much older.

[Jack Kelly]

"It ain't too much for me!" Jack snapped suddenly. "Nothing's too much, ya hear?" He shifted his weight on the couch and sucked on the cigarette, burning back the paper significantly before exhaling and coughing slightly. He had smoked more in the past week than he had in the past six months. He felt slightly nauseous again and thought that maybe he should eat something. He'd forgotten to do that lately.

He took another drag and looked at his cigarette. "I went through this quick..." he muttered. "Goddam things. Too expensive. Ugh, Dave, I'm so tired..." For some reason, Jack started to chuckle. "I could drop dead, I'm so tired..." He chuckled louder.

[David Jacobs]

David frowned and jumped a little when Jack snapped at him, the surprising and quick change in the personality of his best friend catching him off guard and he held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Sorry Jack, I was just asking..." Jack was right on one hand, he hadn't exactly said it was all too much for him, but he'd as much as implied it and that worried David.

As Jack rambled on about his cigarette and their expensive prices and how tired he was, David could do little more than lapse into silence. The truth was, he was a little bit at a loss for words - at fact that would no doubt stun his friends had they been around to witness the novelty. Instead he just leaned back against the couch and let his friend vent, figuring it might be just what Jack needed.

[Jack Kelly]

Jack finished his cigarette and threw the last bit into the fire. He reclined on the couch with his eyes closed for a few seconds. He jolted up suddenly and spoke. "So whaddya doin', Dave, eh? What's up, whaddaya want...?"

[David Jacobs]

I want you to stop halfway losing your mind, is what David wanted to say, but knew it would hardly matter right now. Jack was simply on a far different plane at the moment and David had a feeling that it didn't matter so much what he said. He briefly debated blurting about all the things that had been troubling him lately, or the one topic at the foremost in his mind, Fighter. But discarded that idea immediately. That was going to be hard enough for Jack to take when he wasn't....tired.

"Nothing, just coming by to see how everyone's doing," David admitted, deciding changing the subject might be the best tactic at the moment. "Been quiet around here lately."

[Jack Kelly]

"Mmm..." Jack responded noncommitally. He turned to look at the fireplace and felt himself nodding off. Sleep sounded so wonderful at the moment, he would have given up all the money he had, no, he'd pass up a chance to win a hundred dollars, just in return for nine or ten hours of sleep. Maybe twelve.

But just as the drowsiness threatened to set in, Jack's head was suddenly swimming with conflict. His boys, causing trouble and doing who knew what. His girls, getting into trouble of their own. The shady characters he'd heard about lately. The issues in Queens and the Bronx and Brooklyn. His own issues here in Manhattan...

Suddenly he was alert again. "Dave," he said with a little more clarity. "What do I do?" A thought struck him, and he said it out loud, more to himself than Dave. "I haven't gone to bed in..." He trailed off.