Sing for Their Supper - 22

A few minutes later, two blocks away, Sam was wondering if he, Jolie, and Mace really would be able to find any more kids who might be right for Tuck's new theater.

"It's not like there's that many who wander around singing or dancing," he said. "We're sort of an anomaly. I mean, sure, there's guys like me who might have a guitar or that old man downtown who plays the sax, but…." He shrugged.

"Yeah," Jolie agreed. "Maybe, since we're here, we should set up? College kids like music."

"Hip-hop and junk like that," Mace muttered. "Not the stuff we do."

Sam turned when he heard someone call his name. "Hey, Johnny. How's it going?" he said as the kid approached. "I didn't know you hung out around here."

"Sometimes. When I need a change. And some change." Johnny grinned at his own joke then said, "You guys might want to check out your competition."

"Huh?"

"Two kids back there." Johnny pointed. "They've got a crowd listening to them sing."

Jolie did a fist pump. "Let's go see."

They did, stopping at the edge of the small crowd of mainly college students. The singers were in the middle of "Money", with the girl acting out her part as Sally Bowles, getting laughs from the onlookers.

"They're good," Sam said enthusiastically as he took out his phone. When Tuck answered, Sam said, "You have to get down here. I think we found two more. In fact, I know we have." He told Tuck where here was and hung up. "Now let's hope they don't disappear before Tuck arrives."

He was afraid that might happen when the pair stopped singing, so he told the others they should go over to talk with them.

"You guys rock," Jolie said enthusiastically. "Do you always do this?"

The girl shook her head. "This is our first time. DJ and I were talking about music we like and it sort of went from there."

"Evie started it," DJ told them. "I just followed along."

"Pfft. Maybe at the start," Evie protested. "But after that…"

Sam looked around and spotted a coffee shop with a patio. "Why don't we celebrate your new partnership?"

DJ frowned. "Why do you care?"

"Because we do the same thing, downtown," Sam replied. "Only we do blues, mostly. Maybe we can give you some pointers."

"Come on, DJ. Talking to them will be fun." Evie looked down at what she was wearing—jeans and an oversized shirt tied at her waist, both of which had seen better days. "That is, if they'll let us in."

"We outnumber them. They will," Jolie told her with a grin. "Besides, we don't look all that much worse than some of the students around here, right?"

Evie grinned back. "Right."

DJ didn't look all that confident, Sam thought, but it didn't stop him from going along. They all got plain coffee or sodas, which Sam insisted on paying for. That earned him a 'you're kidding' look from Mace, so he took him aside and said, "It's a way to make them trust us."

They managed to squeeze in at one of the patio tables. While they drank, they talked, mostly about tricks they'd learned on how to survive on the streets—not that any of them had really found out anything from the others that they didn't already know.