The Four Musketeers (Blink, Mush, Chance)

[Kid Blink]

"Sure is, Blink. An' one day I promise you all. I will beat Pulitzer at a game of five cards."
"Sure ya will, Race. And when you do, I'll look out my window and see pigs fly."

It really was amusing to think of Racetrack playing poker with Pulitzer. Blink didn't doubt that Race would come out with the upper hand if such an opportunity ever arose, however unlikely it may be. He grinned broadly and scoffed, "Da only pigs aroun' here are Weisel and the two boneheads Oscar an' Morris, Mush. Good luck t'them t'ever learn how t'fly."

"Thanks for the offer! But havin' to look at your girl I think I'd be desperate enough t'do it myself..."

Blink stood up quickly from where he was sitting and took two steps over to Racetrack and shoved him. "Shuddup ya bonehead," Blink said quickly, " Maybe I'll bring her here jus' so I won' have t'hear ya slammin' her anymore!" Of course Blink was also jesting to an extent, but Racetrack was too, to an extent, so it evened out.

"Boy, maybe I should lay off you fellas. It looks like everything I say is an insult now. Who's the moron here, Blink? I wasn't tryin' a slam, nothin' doin'!"

Oh. He wasn't trying to slam. "I'se knew that." Blink said lamely. He was rather tired. It had been a long day. No, maybe that was just an excuse. He wouldn't admit that sometimes Race, Chance, and even Mush embarrassed him sometimes. But it was obvious to them anyways.

"We should pull one on Jack, he loves us enough not to kill us. Either that or one of the goils. They're real easy to get, 'specially some of the ones our age; It would be a lot of fun."
"I agree!"
"Chance, hold yer knickers. One day you're gonna get so excited yer gonna bash through the roof."
"I'd pay t'see that, go fer one of the goils, I says. I love seein' 'em have a cow..."

Kid Blink loved most of the girls in the lodging house, but more for the hilarity of pranking them than any real affection. Dreamer was alright though; she was like a sister to him. Sweet at times, yet annoying at others. At least she didn't go out of her way to pretend she was tough. And Jinks could be fun too. If she were a guy, she might be one of the musketeers. She had that mischievous aura about her that convinced Blink she would be a great prankster if she put her mind to it. The thought of Jinks brought a smirk to his face. "Jinks," he said slowly. "If we go fer one of the girls, let's do Jinks! I'd love to see 'er face if she got pranked!" Blink grinned and began to laugh. Jinks might attempt to kill them but they could more than take her. And he was sure that Racetrack and Mush and Chance all wanted to get Jinks back for her stupid whistle. And, as a matter of fact, Blink hadn't appreciated her blasting whistle either.

"Our... we could start a prank war. Jack would be an easy target."
"Now that's something we've not done before. I like it..."
"Me, too," Race chimed in. Although it might be a little one sided, if ya know what I mean..."
"This is somethin' big, so we gotta plan it good. The first prank's gotta be a blowout, see? Somethin' real jim-dandy..."

Blink thought for a moment. He had thought up an amazing prank during lunch at Tibby's in the afternoon, but he couldn't remember what it was, so he needed to come up with another one. "I'se got an idea!" he said eagerly. "How about we unscrew all the doors up here? An' fer the washroom, we can leave a message behind the door or something!"

[Anthony Higgins]

"Sure ya will, Race. And when you do, I'll look out my window and see pigs fly."
"Da only pigs aroun' here are Weisel and the two boneheads Oscar an' Morris, Mush. Good luck t'them t'ever learn how t'fly."

Race chuckled. "Before those two even figure out how to walk right, I'll beat Pulitzer at cards. The ol' geezer's half blind, in'nt he?" Race figured that if the old man turned out to be a card shark (which he doubted strongly) he would have no problem dealing from the bottom of the deck, so to speak. Racetrack hated when other people didn't play fair. But if that was what he needed to do to win (which wasn't often) he would scarcely hesitate. Hypocritical? Sure. But smart.

"Shuddup ya bonehead. Maybe I'll bring her here jus' so I won' have t'hear ya slammin' her anymore!"

Race blinked at him, and said with as serious an expression as he could muster, "So you'se admittin' that your girl is so ugly I'd wanna knock myself out when I sees her?" He couldn't keep the serious face for long, and slowly his mouth unfurled like a crooked banner into a wise smirk. When he wasn't using sarcasm or insults, Race tried to put words in other people's mouths. It got them flustered, as well as insulted. It didn't work all the time, but when it did, boy was it worth it...

"I'se knew that."

Racetrack broke out laughing. He loved making fun of his friends. Race knew that he was lucky to have friends who could take a joke, and maybe shoot one back. He hated people who were too sensitive, or people who were too stupid to think of a good comeback. Also, his friends had to be able to take at least a little verbal abuse. If you couldn't do that, Race would insult for the sake of seeing you not be able to take it.

"Jinks. If we go fer one of the girls, let's do Jinks! I'd love to see 'er face if she got pranked!"

"Jinks!" Race cried in agreement. "She'll never see it comin'. Boy oh boy, would I love to get 'er goose for wakin' us up the other night." Race was sure that none of his friends had forgotten the rude awakening they had to endure a while ago. Race still hadn't given Jinks back her whistle, but maybe if she was a good enough sport after they pranked her he would give it back. Well, maybe...maybe not. It depended on his mood toward her. "So what'll we do ta her, eh? Any ideas?" Thoughts were formulating in Race's mind already.

"I'se got an idea! How about we unscrew all the doors up here? An' fer the washroom, we can leave a message behind the door or something!"

Race jumped up with a grin and clapped Kid Blink on the back. "What'd I tell ya, eh? At least half a brain!" He slung an arm around Blink's shoulders and ruffled his hair. "Jim-dandy, Blink, just jim-dandy! A fella goes to open the door and it falls in!" Still grinning at the idea, Race sat back down. "So what do we do with the message, eh? What's it gonna say?" The idea of a prank war thrilled him, and the idea of getting Jinks back for waking them up thrilled him even more.

[Mush]

"Da only pigs aroun' here are Weisel and the two boneheads Oscar an' Morris, Mush. Good luck t'them t'ever learn how t'fly."

Mush laughed, "Wouldn't it be a sight ta see if we saw them flyin'?" He said, just imagining Oscar, Morris, and Weasel flying. Oscar and Morris would be fighting, of course. And Weasel would be yelling at them to shut up. Oh how funny that would be. All of New York would get a laugh from that.

"Shuddup ya bonehead. Maybe I'll bring her here jus' so I won' have t'hear ya slammin' her anymore!"
"So you'se admittin' that your girl is so ugly I'd wanna knock myself out when I sees her?"

Mush decided it would be wise if he didn't talk about Nellie with his friends. Racetrack loved to make fun of them for being all romantic and such. Normally Mush didn't care, but that was just with the worthless fling girls, not Nellie. Nellie was different, she was the only girl Mush was willing to commit to for a while.

"Jinks. If we go fer one of the girls, let's do Jinks! I'd love to see 'er face if she got pranked!"
"Jinks! She'll never see it comin'. Boy oh boy, would I love to get 'er goose for wakin' us up the other night."

"Yeah!" Mush cried out in excitement, and agreement. Jinks would never see it coming, and it would be revenge for her waking them up in the middle of the night the other night. And for what? For Dreamer getting into a fight with Mike D. Greaser. Anybody with half a brain knew not to fight Mike. Mike was a murderer, and he wasn't a good guy.

"So what'll we do ta her, eh? Any ideas?"

"First of all, Race do ya still have that whistle? If you do, we take it and throw it into the river. Then we'll do something else.." Mush wasn't an expert at thinking of ideas for pranks. Race or Blink were much better at that than Mush could ever hope to be. His idea of a prank was put shaving cream on their hand, and tickle their nose.

"I'se got an idea! How about we unscrew all the doors up here? An' fer the washroom, we can leave a message behind the door or something!"
"Jim-dandy, Blink, just jim-dandy! A fella goes to open the door and it falls in!" "So what do we do with the message, eh? What's it gonna say?"

Blink was the smart one when it came to pranks. Mush beamed, "Great idea!" However, he didn't know what the message should say, but he it wouldn't hurt to take a guess. "We need to put something so it doesn't show our identity. We wanna keep people guessin', right?"