~A week later, Clara's POV~

They said that I'm permanently deaf. I've so far been able to sort of read their lips, but only if they talk at me when they're talking to me. Crutchie's been struggling with seeing any bright side to this. Race is trying to work past it. Jack's been talking about if I can still be a Newsie. Bea spends a lot of time with me, since she doesn't even need to talk to talk to me, just mouth what she wants to say. 

I've been trying to see the good, too. But I miss the sound of voices. Of laughter. And the sounds of New York. I couldn't help but think about if our parents hadn't kicked us out, if they could've prevented deafness. I know where they live. I want to pay them a visit. 

I'm at the Lodging House. When the thought of visiting our folks came to me, I flagged my brother down.

"What's up?" He said. I couldn't hear him, but I can see what he's saying.

"I want to visit our folks." I told him.

"Our folks?" He said. I miss his voice. "We don't got folks."

"We do got folks." I insisted. Hell, I miss my own voice. 

He said something that I didn't catch. I stared at him blankly. He repeated it. "Not folks that want us."

"Please." I pleaded. My brother pondered for a second. 

"Okay." He said. 

The next day, we both dressed as nicely as we could (which just included clean flannels and pants, skirt for me). Then we set on the long walk to the apartment we hadn't been to in almost ten years. I kept remembering the day we left. It was super rainy, and Crutchie was mute for a year. 

The building loomed over our heads. Crutchie took my hand and we together went quickly inside.

Crutchie exchanged words I couldn't see with the woman behind the counter. Then we went up the stairs. My brother tossed me his crutch and we slowly went up. Floor 5. Door 23. It was right in front of us. Our parents could be on the other side of that door. I reached up to knock, but Crutchie halted me.

"You sure?" He said, turned towards me. I nodded and knocked. A woman with brown hair answered the door. She had tired eyes. She said something I didn't see, so Crutchie replied. She turned to me and spoke again.

"Do I know you?" She said. From the look on her face, she was very fed up with everything. And yet, I recognized her. She's my mother. Then her eyes widened as she looked at us, then down at Crutchie's foot.

"Clara?" She said, then looked at my brother with her eyes, not her head so I could see. "Charles?"

Crutchie nodded. She embraced us both in a hug we did not reciprocate. Over her shoulder, I saw a familiar man with blond hair approach. 

"Who are you?" He said, brows furrowed. She pulled off of us and turned towards him. I couldn't see what they were saying, so Crutchie mouthed their conversation. I only caught a few phrases.

"Johnathon,"

"Kicked that boy out,"

"No good reason,"

"Bum,"

"Deaf,"

They, from what I could pick up, were talking about us. About how it was his idea to kick Crutchie out, how I joined him. And now how I've gone deaf. They turned around to face us. 

"Clara." He nodded towards me, then began super-enunciating and appeared to be yelling. "Why did you go with him?"

Crutchie grabbed his wrist, which was flailing about. He hissed something that I couldn't see. The man, the one I didn't want to call my father, spat something I deciphered as: "You, shut up."

She swatted his shoulder and said 'Johnathon'. The man scowled and ripped the crutch from his son, sending Crutchie stumbling backwards. I barely managed to catch him.

~Crutchie's POV~

"You sure?" I asked Cass. She nodded and knocked, it was probably louder than what she intended. A brown haired woman answered the door, staring at us. A momentary hope flashed in his brown eyes, then they went back to their sad look. 

"Do I know you?" She asked, voice bland. Her head was more turned to me, to the point that I wasn't sure if Cass knew what she said. Before I could reply, her eyes widened and she looked us over, eyes drifting to my bum leg. She turned to Cass.

"Clara?" Her voice caught in her throat and she looked back at me. "Charles?"

I nodded hesitantly. She enveloped us both in a hug. Then a dreadfully familiar man walked up to us.

"Who are you?" He demanded. She stepped away from us and turned to him. I knew that Cass was very lost, so I started mouthing their argument.

Jonathon, they're our kids. Hatty, we kicked that boy out for a good reason. It was for no good reason, just that our boy caught the poliovirus! He's got bum foot, what good can he do? Well our daughter is deaf now. Is she?

Then they turned back to us. The man started yelling and over enunciating.

"Clara!" He shouted. "Why did you go with him?"

His hands were flying through the air wildly. Something in my snapped when he yelled at my deaf sister, and I caught his wrist. He struggled against me, but it looks like I'm stronger than him.

"She cannot hear you." I told him through gritted teeth. 

"You, shut up." He hissed, not caring about the sting in his voice. 

"Johnathon! The woman gasped, swatting her husband's shoulder. He did not like that I had grabbed his wrist, so he used his other hand to rip the crutch from under me. Cass yelped and moved to catch me. She barely managed to do so.

"You can come in." The woman said hastily. I glanced at Cass, who shrugged. So we went inside. Not a thing had changed, which was baffling. Aside from a severe lack of children things, everything was the same. Johnathon huffed and went away to another room. 

~Clara's POV~

"I am so sorry!" She said, head turned toward me. "And if you don't mind my asking, what happened?"

I decided to actually talk, conscious of how loud or quiet I might be. "Remember that explosion at the Laundry Mat?"

Tears welled at her eyes as she nodded.

"I was there." I concluded. 

"That must've been horrific." She said. I wasn't sure if my brother had said anything since we came in.

"Could have been worse." I shrugged. "Dolly died."

"Dolly." She felt the name in her mouth. "She worked there?"

Crutchie nodded. She sat us down on the stiff couch and sat across from us.

"What do you guys do now?" She said. "For a living?"

I saw Crutchie's jaw flex and mouth move, but I couldn't read it. 

"Newsies." She said. "Cass, are you still going to be a Newsie?"

I shrugged.

We continued an awkward conversation until Crutchie told her that we had to go. He was already outside when she pulled me aside. He stiffened and made and hastily start. 

"Here." She said, handing me a bunch of books. They were sign language books. 

"Uh, thanks." I said. She ushered me out to where my brother was standing.

And we left.