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On February 10th, Jack Kelly walked into the doors of Miss Medda’s theatre.
“Jack Kelly!” Medda cried out when she saw him. “It’s good to see you, kid!”
“Even better to see you, Miss Medda!” Jack replied, running to her and hugging her. “Hey, listen, I need some advice.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Ya know Valentine’s Day?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I wanna get something’ for Davey, but I dunno what.”
“Hm…I’ll be right back.” She left and came back with a small canvas. “You’re an artist, Jack. Paint something.”
“Like what?”
“I can’t give you the vision, kid. You’ll think of something, you always do.”
“You’re a gem, Miss Medda. I’m gonna get the paints.”
“Good, you do that.”
On February 12th, the Jacobs family had just finished eating dinner and Sarah was going to her room to get some sewing done when Davey tapped her shoulder.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” he asked.
“Anything!”
“What should I get Jack for Valentine’s Day in two days? I’m really bad at knowing what to give people.”
“Well, think about it. What sort of things does he like?”
Davey thought about it. “Let’s see. He likes us Newsies, he likes art…” Light bulb. “I have an idea!”
On February 13th, the Jacobs kids were on their way home from school when Davey saw Katherine buying a pape from Romeo.
“Kath!” Davey called as she was walking away from Romeo. “Listen, I have a favor to ask. Do you have any sort of notepad or notebook I can have?”
“I might have one. Do you need it for something?”
Davey nodded, and Katherine walked away before he could clarify why he needed it. She was back after about fifteen minutes (which the Jacobs kids had used to catch up with the other Newsies) with a medium-sized notepad in her hand.
“Here you go!”
“Thank you.”
“Anytime, Mouth.”
On February 14th, when Davey walked out of school, Jack was waiting for him. Les ran up to Jack and hugged him- he missed selling with him everyday. After a few minutes of catching up, Jack said, “Hey Davey, I got ya somethin’.” He pulled the canvas out of his bag and put it in Davey’s hands. It was a painting of Santa Fe, but this version had a lot more blue and green mixed in there. Those were Davey’s favorite colors.
“When we met, I was obsessed with gettin’ out of here and goin’ out west to Santa Fe.”
“You were,” Davey agreed.
“But then I came to realize it wasn’t a place I wanted. Hell, I don’t even know what Santa Fe looks like! What I wanted was comfort, security. And I found that here. You’se my Santa Fe, Davey.”
Davey was blown away by the speech. He didn’t know what to say, so he just hugged Jack.
“I have something for you too,” he said after a while. He reached into his own bag and pulled out the notebook he had gotten from Katherine the day before.
“I know you’re an artist, so I wanted you to have something that allowed you to express that wherever you go, not just at the theatre.”
“Wow Dave, that was real thoughtful of you. Thank you for this.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jackie.”
They hugged again until Sarah interrupted.
“Hey lovebirds! We oughta be getting home. Jack, care to join us?”
Little Les absolutely lit up at the suggestion of Jack coming home with them.
“I don’t see why not,” Jack replied.
Davey held Jack’s hand, who linked arms with Les, who linked arms with Sarah, and off they went.