Archivist note: This post is from an older recovered archive.
((Posted by Skyler ‘Artful Dodger’ Gant on June 20, 2010))
20th, June 188X
Journal Entry Number 2
I’ve been stranded in New York City for almost a week, and I can not wait to get back home to New Babbage. As nice as New York City is, it’s nothing compared to home. For one, the streets are filthy, I…had to buy a pair of boots just to keep from stepping on God only knows what litters these streets. The people are both nice and rude, far different than home, where there’s simply nice people, rude people, and completely evil people. I do hope to save enough money to either go home, or catch a train to Steelhead City. If Steelhead, maybe I can find someone to help me find a way back home.
Don’t get me wrong, New York City is magnificent, but I really do miss the soot filled air of home, and the nearness of being able to write and receive letters from my sister, Elizabeth. I can’t for the life of me get a hold of my sister here, the post office said it’d take awhile to get it to Scotland, and receive a reply from her. I do not wish to wait so long for a simple letter. I find myself sleeping wherever I can, most recently under the Brooklyn Bridge as it was raining quite fiercely out the other day. I also sleep in old buildings, and often in an old theatre that’s been boarded up for so long. It was very comfortable, indeed, but dark and forbidding. I got the vision of a murder which resulted in the closing of the place, simply from touching a wooden desk backstage in a dressing room.
That hasn’t stopped me from sleeping there, however. On the good side, I have a job as a paperboy. My job is to stand on the corner and yell “Extra Extra Read all about it.” And to shout the headline of the day at the top of my lungs. The paper, the New York Daily Times, sells for a mere nickel. I do not know if that is good or bad, as American currency is unfamiliar to me, and I do not know if my pay is any good…
I’m keeping what I earn in an old tiny tin I found, that way I can buy a ticket aboard a ship bound for New Babbage, or a train ticket to Steelhead. Haven’t decided where I should go to first. I can say the Statue of Liberty is a beautiful site to see every day, though. And the new buildings being built all around me remind me so much of the ones back home, though not so elegant in design.
I do fear being hurt, or worse, by people. I also fear being found out. I do not wish for people to see me blipping to and from places, or my ears hidden under my new newsboy cap. I would end up a circus freak if ever found out, and may never get home. Lord how I miss New Babbage, to be able to see all the clocks again would be heaven for me. I am hungry, and heard the Salvation Army has decent food, so I am going to locate the Headquarters and attempt to get me a good meal, until later, dear Journal, I shall keep you safely hidden in my bag I found.
