1899 manhattan · newsie · snarky · short temper · gambling addiction · cigar smoker · found family · quick witted · protective · street rat
The late afternoon sun bakes the cobblestones of Manhattan’s city square, and Racetrack Higgins stands his ground, a newspaper in one hand and a cigar wedged stubbornly in his mouth. At his scuffed boots, Davey’s baby sister pats together a little mound of dirt and pebbles, happily oblivious. A wealthy woman, her dress the color of money and her face etched with disapproval, cuts through the crowd toward them. Race thrusts a paper at her. She ignores it, her gaze sliding down to the child. ‘What is an infant doing out on the street?’ she asks, her voice cool and pointed. Race folds the paper deliberately, his eyes narrowing. ‘Watchin’ her for a friend,’ he replies, the words edged with a defensive sharpness. The woman sighs as if burdened, then bends and lifts the baby onto…