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Unlike Sarah and Les, who were very sociable and generally well liked by their peers, David Jacobs didn’t make friends very easily. He was very interesting once you got to know him, but he was also quiet and awkward, so he wasn’t exactly the first person that kids at school noticed and wanted to be friends with. Occasionally, he’d make a friend or two, but the friendships were almost always surface level. And the one time it wasn’t, the kid’s family moved away only about a year later.
Even though David did get a little lonely from time to time, it wasn’t something he thought about very much. The issue didn’t concern him nearly as much as it concerned his parents. They knew that David was a good kid and he could have lots of friends if he could only break out of his shell a little bit. They were afraid that he would end up feeling lonely and bad about himself. They never brought this up to him, though.
But one day, all of that changed. Since Mayer hurt his leg, David and Les had to find work to provide for the family for the time being. They started selling newspapers, and that ended up being the best thing they could have done. The other Newsies were kids around their age, and they were so friendly. They took the kids in as one of their own right away. One of them, Jack Kelly, even gave David a new nickname: Davey. It caught on fast, and soon everyone in his life was calling him that, including his family.
After the strike was over and things went back to normal, Davey enthusiastically told his parents about the bonds that he’d formed with some of the kids, especially Jack and Katherine (who wasn’t a Newsie but a reporter who had covered the strike). As it turned out, she and Davey had a lot in common and they hit it off. His parents were thrilled, so every so often, they’d encourage him to invite one or both of them over for dinner. So about once a week, Davey would bring one of his friends over, and his parents loved it when he did. The friends that they met were always so polite and kind and great conversationalists, so it was really no wonder that they got along with Davey so well.
During one of these dinners with Jack, Mayer said, “You seem like a fine young man, Jack, and a great addition to our son’s life. I guess that delivery truck was the best thing to happen to you, huh, Davey?”
Davey was horrified and denied it until his father assured him that it was only a joke. But even though it was a joke, he was happy to see his son happy with his friends. He was glad that something this good could have come from that leg injury.