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When Mayer Jacobs injured his leg, his kids needed to start selling newspapers to make money for the family. David wasn’t too thrilled at first, but he did what he had to do. However, he found genuine friends in these newsboys, the only close friends he’d had in a long time. He finally felt understood, like he belonged somewhere.
But nothing lasts forever.
Mayer made a relatively quick recovery, which meant that Davey and Les would have to go back to school. And even though Davey was beyond grateful for the recovery, the idea of leaving the Newsies and returning to school made him sick. He had just finally made friends who cared and who understood, and it was getting ripped from him. He didn’t protest when his parents broke the news, but there was a part of him that wished that he did.
The next day at work, he knew he’d have to tell Jack. So he waited until he had sold his last paper (Les was still selling with Albert) and asked Jack if they could talk.
“Sure Dave, you alright?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” Davey lied, not wanting to freak Jack out, but there was no fooling him.
“Yeah, right. Now come on, what’s bothering ya?”
Davey hesitated for a little bit, because he really didn’t want to say it. Regardless, it had to be said, so eventually he ripped off the Band-Aid. “We’re going back to school next week.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Jackie. Pop’s going back to work soon so we need to go back to school.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No, of course not!”
“Then can’t ya talk to your folks? I’m sure they’ll listen to ya if you tell ‘em why you don’t wanna go.”
“I don’t know. They’ve been through so much lately, and I don’t want to add to that.”
Jack could see that Davey was too distraught to talk about possible solutions, so he changed the subject and just be there for his friend. So he just put his arm around Davey and said, “I’m sorry, Dave.”
“I don’t know if you know this, Jack, but I have a really hard time making friends. And now that I finally have them…I just care about you all a lot, and the last thing I want is to lose you.”
“Is that what this is about? Ey, calm down. You ain’t gettin’ rid of me that easy.”
“You mean that?”
“Of course! I’m gonna tell you what a very smart Newsie once told me…there’s no escaping us pal. We’re inevitable.”
Davey chuckled, and suddenly a light bulb went off in Jack’s brain. “Tell ya what…when school’s out, you come straight to me and I’ll walk ya home. And you and Sarah and the kid can tell me all about school.”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course! And if ya ain’t too busy, you can come to the Lodging House in the evenin’ sometimes.”
“I’d really like that. And maybe you could join us for dinner. My folks love you.”
“Is that so?”
“I think they’re just happy I have a good, solid friendship.”
“Then why are they makin’ ya go back to school instead a’ workin’ with me?”
“They think it’s important that their kids get an education, which I kind of understand.”
“Well, ya may not be able to sell with us anymore, but I’ll tell ya one thing: ya ain’t losin’ us anytime soon. We’re gonna be there whether ya like it or not.”
Davey laughed. “You know, I’m not so worried anymore. Thank you.”
“Alright, bring it in,” Jack said, pulling Davey into a tight hug.