The Angel of Brooklyn by Bianca Gray (best fiction novels of all time txt) 📖

Chapter 1

The year was 1900 exactly. It was just after the strike of the Newsies in 1899. My parents both got killed working in a factory. The factories weren't safe and I knew this. I couldn't think of what I could be that was somewhat safe. Then I thought of it. I remembered the whole New York Newsies strike last year and thought that it would be a perfect job. So I got onto a train from Pennsylvania and hitchhiked on it until I got to Mannhatan with my twin brother. We were 14 at the time. I looked for the News Boys Lodging House. Then I realized, of course, I needed to be a boy. I turned to Reggie, my brother.
"Reggie, I need to be dressed up like a boy so we get money and don't starve. Do you understand?" I asked. He rubbed his nose and nodded.
"Yeah. I'm not seven. But I don't understand how this has anything to do with me," he said in a bored tone. I sighed.
"Because you cannot tell anyone!" I told him exasperately. He looked at me with his brown eyes.
"'Kay, I won't tell. No worries," he said looking around. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll be right back. Don't move from this spot," I said sternly. He crossed his heart. I bought a Newsies hat and some boy clothes from a random vendor on the street. I mumbled something about it being for my brother and ran somewhere I could change quickly. Once I was changed, I stuffed my shining auburn hair into the hat. I didn't have the guts to cut it. But I did leave my clothes on the streets. I took a deep breath.
"From this moment on, I will be a boy," I said quietly to myself. I reached down to the ground and rubbed some dirt on my face. I couldn't let anyone catch me, no matter what. I walked over to where Reggie was standing. Reggie had the same color hair as me and dark brown eyes while I had the unusual violet-blue eyes.
"Reggie? I'm ready. We can go in now," I said slowly. He look at me astonished.
"You look like a boy that's lived in the streets his whole life," he said surprised.
"Well, I don't want to look like I have a girl's face," I said slowly. He scrunitized my face.
"Nah, you still have a girl's face," he said. I glared at him.
"Let's just go in," I said. He smiled.
"Whatever you say, brother," he said.
"Don't call me that," I mumbled. He smiled bigger. I opened the door to the News Boys Lodging House and went up to the old man at the desk. Before I opened my mouth Reggie started to talk.
"Hey, I'm Reggie and this is my brother, Mattie, and we were wondering if we could stay here," he said. I was surprised that he decided to keep my real name but... I guess it kind of sounded like a boys name... The old man looked at us hard. He looked at me longer than Reggie. Then he smiled at me. I felt like he knew but he didn't say anything if he did.
"Yes. We have room for you two. Reggie and Mattie wasn't it? Just up those stairs. Everyone is in one giant room. I hope you guys will be comfortable with that," he said looking at me when he said the last sentence. Reggie and I stood there a little longer. He looked up at us.
"Well then, go on up there. Most of the boys are nice," he said with a smile. Reggie started up the stairs.
"Excuse me, but what shall I call you?" I asked.
"Mr. Kloppman," he replied.
"Thanks," I said quickly while going up the steps to the large room full of boys. I took a deep breath. Then I followed my brother into the room. It was just after dark so most of the boys were just getting ready to go to bed. They all looked at us. Some guy pushed his way through all the boys to look at us. He had on a red scarf that you would see on cowboys, a black vest, and a cowboy hat hanging around his neck. His hair was a caramel color.
"Well will ya look at this, boys, a couple of new newsies," the boy said with a heavy New York accent.
"What are yous names?" asked a boy with a crutch.
"I'm Reggie and this is Mattie. We came up here from Pennsylvania hoping to make some dough," said my brother. The caramel haired boy came up to us.
"Reggie and Mattie, eh? Isn't Mattie a girl's name?" he asked looking at me. I coughed.
"Uh, my name is actually Matthew. My family just calls me Mattie. It's a nickname," I said trying to sound a tad like a boy. He looked at me for one more second and then shrugged.
"Yous guys staying here?" he asked looking at Reggie. Reggie nodded his head.
"Well, my names Jack Kelly. This here is Krutchy. O'er here is Mush, Racetrack, Blink..." he said and told me all they're names.
"Hey boys! This here is Mattie and Reggie!" Jack yelled out to the rest of the guys. I waved.
"Hey yous knows yous can take off yous hats?" asked Mush. Reggie took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. I started to panic.
"Uh, no thanks. I'd rather keep it on," I said slowly. All the guys looked at me weirdly. Then they disregarded it. Jack looked at me longer than any of them though. I blushed like the girl I was but, luckily, I ducked my head so he couldn't see.
"Yous knows yous gots a girls face, right?" he asked me slowly. I laughed.
"Yes. I know," I said.
"He hasn't hit puberty yet," said Reggie.
"Yous guys brothers?" Racetrack asked, joining the conversation.
"Yeah, twins, actually," said Reggie. Blink looked at me then at Reggie then at me again.
"Yous guys kinda looks alike. Except the eyes and this ones gots a girls face," said Blink pointing at me. Racetrack leaned in to look at me.
"Hey! Yous do gots a girls face!" he exclaimed. Reggie sighed.
"Yeah? Well so do you," he snapped at Racetrack. Racetrack rubbed his chin as if he was feeling whether or whether not he had a girls face. Krutchy leaned close to my face just as Racetrack did before.
"Yous gots some unusual looking eyes," he said.
"Lemme see," said Jack. He looked at me for a long while.
"Nah, they'se not unusual. They'se blue," said Jack. Blink looked at me.
"Nah, Jack, they'se purple," said Blink.
"Yous got one bad eye so how yous supposed to know whad color id is," replied Jack. Blink blinked his good eye.
"I guesses yous right Jack. Maybe it ain't purple," he said looking at me.
"Maybe it's not purple," I mumbled correcting him. Jack looked at me.
"Waddya say?" he asked. I stood up straighter.
"Nothing," I said quickly. Racetrack looked at me.
"The girl's face said 'maybe it's not purple'," said Racetrack. I glared. He smiled at me. Jack looked at me.
"Were you trying to correct my buddy, Blink here?" he asked me crossing his arms.
"Lookee here boys! We'se gots ourselves an educated boy!" yelled Racetrack. I gulped.
"Yeah. We're educated. Our mama and papa brought us up right, unlike you guys, obviously," said Reggie rolling his eyes. Jack glared at him but didnt say anything.
"Well, guess yous guys better pick a bunk to sleep in," said Blink. I looked around but it seemed to me that they were all occupied.
"There's one under Jack and one abouve Krutchy," said Blink. I looked at Reggie in absolute fear. He either didn't notice or pretended not to notice and took the bunk above Krutchy. I sighed and slipped into the lower bunk underneath Jack. Mr. Kloppman blew out the candles and suddenly I was engulfed into darkness. When my eyes adjusted, I saw an upside down head staring at me. I gasped in air in surprise. Then I let it out slowly.
"What, Jack?" I asked quietly. It seemed there were a lot of other conversations going on so we weren't the only ones conversing.
"Why'd yous guys come here?" he asked. I sighed.
"We already told you. We need money so we came up here from Pennsylvania," I said. He shook his head slightly.
"No, why'se yous guys leave yous family?" he asked. I felt my face get hot readying myself for the tears that were about to overflow down my cheeks. I gulped.
"Reggie is the only family I have," I said quietly my voice thick with tears. Jack looked at me hard.
"Wadda 'bout yous mother and father?" he asked slowly. I felt the tears streaking down my face and wiped them with the back of my hand.
"They, um, they passed away recently," I said unable to say no more. Jack looked sad.
"I'm sorry," was all he said and then his upside down head disappeared. The rest of the night went peacefully. In the morning, Mr. Kloppman went around waking people up, but I was up before Mr. Kloppman came around so I could shower and change without anyone seeing.
"Hey Mr. Kloppman," I said to him while making my bed. He looked at me make my bed.
"Well, boy, aren't you neat?" he asked with a smile. I felt my face grow hot and ducked my head.
"OKAY! RISE AND SHINE! TIME TO SELL NEWSPAPERS!!!" yelled Mr. Kloppman at the boys while waking them up. Each one got up one at a time.
"C'mon Henry! Boots! Trench! Jack, get up! Let's GO, Krutchy! Racetrack waddya doin'? Get going, Blink!" Kloppman yelled out to the boys. Jack jumped down from the top bunk.
"Hey, Mattie, yous up and early?" he asked scratching his head.
"Yeah. I was. I'm a...morning person," I said slowly.
"Oh yeah?" he asked yawning.
"Yeah..." I said turning away to look at Reggie.
"How'd you sleep? You dressed already? Looks like you showered too...when did you get up?" he asked saying whatever came to his mind.
"I slept fine. Obviously I'm dressed. I did shower and I woke up at the crack of dawn," I said. Jack pointed his thumb at me.
"Morning person. Shouldn't you know that?" he asked slowly looking at Reggie's face.
"Yeah. I do," he said quickly.
"I can't believe you took me cigar, again!" I heard yelling. I looked over to see Racetrack pushing another boy.
"Hey! Stop!" I yelled impulsively. Everyone turned to look at me. My face turned red but this time I didn't duck my face.
"Id's jusd playing around, Mattie. Theys won't actually hurt anyone," said Jack drawing out each of his words.
"Oh," I said quietly. The boy gave Racetrack his cigar while still looking at me. Racetrack lit the cigar while also still looking at me. I walked over to him, took his cigar, and stepped on it.
"Smoking's bad for your health," I said.
"He jusd stepped on me cigar!" he yelled out. I looked around.
"Well, it IS bad for ya," I said slowly. Then Racetrack pushed me. I quickly fell to the ground. Boys had crowded around us and started to yell fight, fight, fight!
"Well? C'mon pretty boy!" said