Crutchie limped down the path, whistling a small tune as he wandered through the colourful fallen leaves, feeling delightfully warm in his orange sweater. He reached up and brushed off a brown, crinkling leaf from his hat, sending up flurries of leaves as he pushed through a pile with his crutch. He waved cheerily at the man who had been raking them, giving him a quick apology. Crutchie continued on his way out of Central Park, adjusting his bag of papers over his shoulder. He only had one more paper to sell, and was determined to make it back to the Lodging House before suppertime. Tonight, he finally had enough money to sleep and eat there, and couldn't wait to see all the fellas and Jack in their sweaters, too. He liked to sell papers alone most days, and so had only really seen his friends that morning at the Dsitribution Office. As he limped on, Crutchie was starting to feel a bit woozy, even more hot than usual. What was more, he started to shiver, feeling chills go down his back. What was the matter? A minute ago he had been perfectly fine, after all. Now he felt like he was overheating and freezing at the same time. Crutchie steadily limped on, eventually going slower and slower. His eyes drooped, and he fought to stay awake. Crutchie barely even noticed when he tripped, and fell. The road was sure to be a good place to sleep this off, wasn't it? He just felt so tired, and sick…

"Crutchie? Crutchie?!"

Katherine had seen him fall from where she had been sitting on a bench, reading. She quickly placed her book down and ran over to the fallen newsie. "Crutchie?" she asked more urgently this time, and turned him over. "Can you hear me?!"

Crutchie mumbled something incoherent, and Katherine breathed a slight sigh of relief. She quickly put a hand on his forehead, and quickly pulled it away. He was burning up. Katherine pursed her lips, and glanced around. Finding no visible help, she carefully lifted Crutchie up and placed his arm around her shoulders, although he was practically a dead weight.

"I'll take you back to the apartment," Katherine said to him, and bent down to grab his crutch. "You can't walk around sick like this."

"I ain't—I ain't sick, Katherine," Crutchie mumbled, and Katherine shook her head. "No, of course not. You're just feeling very hot and cold at the same time, aren't you."

"Yeah," Crutchie mumbled.

"That's called a fever," Katherine said, and Crutchie opened one eye. "I knows. But I don't got that. 'M jus'….jus'…."

"Sick," Katherine provided, and Crutchie nodded distantly.

"Yeah. That."