Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 17, No. 4, April 1972
- Автор: Breese Edward Y., Бриттен Уильям
- Год: 1972
- Язык: английский
- Год: H.S.D. Publications
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 17, No. 4, April 1972». Краткое содержание книги:
Eddie picked up the directory and searched until he found the only Thebold listed. He dialed that number, and when a woman answered, he said, “This is Eddie Barrett. May I please speak to Mary Ann?”
Eddie’s uncle suddenly sat up straighter and stared at Eddie, who waited with his heart pounding. Finally Eddie heard, “Yeah?”
“This is Eddie Barrett, Mary Ann.”
“She said that. So what do you want?” Her tone revealed definite irritation.
Eddie swallowed, then managed, “I’d like a date, Mary Ann. Are you busy tomorrow night?”
There was a suspenseful silence, then suddenly Mary Ann began laughing. It kept on until she hung up. Eddie stood staring straight ahead for a moment as his face turned pink, then he put his own phone down.
His uncle started laughing, and his aunt, too. His uncle said, “Struck out, huh? Two tries and you’re already struck out! You’re a Romeo, all right! God’s gift, huh?”
They started laughing again as Eddie trudged upstairs and undressed and got into bed. The last sounds he heard in his mind, just before he went to sleep, were all kinds of laughter — Piggo’s and Monkey’s, his uncle’s and his aunt’s. But mostly he could hear the laughter of Mary Ann, and he knew that she would never again be a pleasurable and delicious thought for him, not ever again.
Because the next day was a Saturday and there was no school, Eddie had sufficient time to study his position. He shut his ears to his uncle’s sardonic barbs, and went mechanically through the chores his aunt insisted he do, but he thought.
When darkness arrived that evening, he walked over to Mrs. Scrant’s shop, knowing that he was almost an hour ahead of her closing time. She stared at him as he came into the shop, as a hawk views its prey before making the dive. He knew then that she knew. It might have been his voice, or the way he’d moved as he’d jumped up and down in her livingroom, but no matter — she knew.
“What do you want?” she asked angrily in her rasping voice.
“Gone.”
“What kind?”
“Double chocolate.”
“Where’s your money?”
So, for the first time, he had to put the money on the counter in front of her before she made the cone for him. Then, when she did, she shorted him on ice cream, which she’d never done before.
“Thank you,” he said.
As he was walking out with the cone in his hand, she called to him: “If you never came back I wouldn’t shed a tear over that, I’ll tell you.”
He nodded and said, “Yes, ma’am,” and left the store.
He nibbled at the cone as he walked slowly over to Blue Street and the old apartment building which housed the headquarters of the club. It was in an otherwise unused room in the basement of the building, and the custodian let them use it for a share of the dues all of them contributed once a month. Eddie went in through the back and down a stairway and knocked on a door five times in the rhythm that would announce to anyone inside that it was a Blue Monster entering.
The only person he saw as he opened the door and went in was Piggo, lying on a cot and reading a horror comic book. He looked at Eddie contemptuously and said, “What are you doing?”
Eddie shrugged. “Where’s everybody else?”
“Chasing girls. Why aren’t you?”
“Why aren’t you?” Eddie replied.
“I’m not going to argue with you,” Piggo said. “That’d be arguing with nothing, wouldn’t it?” He continued reading.
“I quit,” Eddie said at last.
“What?” Piggo said, looking at him.
“I quit.”
Piggo frowned, then smiled. “After all we did to you?” He laughed.
Eddie moved back toward the door.
“Oh, yeah!” Piggo said despite his snuffling laughter. “You quit, all right, because you’re weak, huh? You’re so weak somebody’s going to chew you up and swallow you before you know what’s happened! Wait’ll I tell the rest, huh? We’ll have a celebration! Do you hear me? We’ll...”
But Eddie had gone out and shut the door behind him and was going up the stairway, so that Piggo’s words became unintelligible.
Hunching his shoulders, pushing his hands into his pockets, Eddie walked toward the business district of the neighborhood. There was a light, warm breeze, and stars and a white moon shone in the sky. Eddie moved through a small park where there was not much light because somebody had stoned out two lamps there and they hadn’t been fixed yet, but he could smell the bloom of flowers. He liked that, because he knew a corsage for a girl would smell like that, and one day, he promised himself, he would have reason to buy a corsage for a girl.
He went on into the busy area where there were two bars, a clothing store, a restaurant, a delicatessen and a theater. Stepping back into shadows, Eddie stood with his back to a wall and silently watched the people passing.
They were tall, short and medium. They were old, young and medium. Eddie stared at them, wondering if any of them were nice. He hoped all of them were, but he knew that wasn’t true and it made him sad.
He sniffed and rubbed a finger across his nose, and suddenly Monkey was beside him, all arms and legs, grinning widely. “Hey, Eddie!” he said. “Who’re you hiding from this time, Eddie?”
Eddie put his hands back in his pockets and hunched his shoulders again. Then he saw that Mary Ann Thebold was coming down the sidewalk with a fellow who was at least twenty and maybe older. She was laughing and had her arm tightly around his middle.
“Oh, hey there, Mary Ann!” Monkey shouted loudly. “What do you say?”
The older fellow looked coldly into the shadows at both Monkey and Eddie. When Mary Ann recognized them, she swung her hair back and forth and went on with her friend into the theater. The film was rated X, but both were admitted anyway.
“Oh, that Mary Ann!” Monkey said with meaning. “But you didn’t answer me, Eddie. Who’re you hiding from? Somebody scare you, did they?” He giggled, then punched Eddie sharply in the arm.
“Don’t do that,” Eddie said.
“Why not?” He punched Eddie again. “That’s a new club punch, see? You only get to do it to new Blues, see?” He struck Eddie again, harder. “I just made that up, see, Eddie? On account of you’re a new Blue!”
“I’m not a new Blue anymore,” Eddie said, feeling it where Monkey was punching him.
“Why not?”
“I quit.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to belong anymore.”
Monkey shook his head sadly, but he was still grinning. “On account of scaring that old woman last night, huh? Is that it, Eddie?” His eyes shifted suddenly as he looked past Eddie down the street. “Oh, but wow, huh? I mean, look, Eddie. There she is again!”
Eddie looked down the street to see that Mrs. Scrant was coming out of the delicatessen. She’d obviously bought something for dinner, and now she would be retracing her steps in the direction from which Eddie had also come, to go home.
“Oh, jeez,” Monkey said happily, his eyes shining brightly. “Guess what I’m going to do now, Eddie?”
“You leave her alone,” Eddie said.
“Ah, Eddie!”
“I mean it! You leave her alone!”
“So you told me,” Monkey said. “Now let’s see you make me!”
He darted off after the old woman, and Eddie followed, his face flushed with anger.
The old woman was moving surprisingly fast, a dark figure wearing a black shawl and a black scarf. Even Monkey, who moved very quickly, didn’t catch up with her until she was going through the small park, and Eddie was still a half block behind both of them.