Edenville Owls
- Автор: Паркер Роберт Браун
- Год: 2007
- Язык: английский
- Год: Sleuth Philomel
- ISBN: 978-0-399-24656-2
- Жанр: Современная русская и зарубежная проза
Электронная книга - «Edenville Owls». Краткое содержание книги:
As the second half developed, Russell stopped trying to push back against their center and was now rolling off him and cutting for the basket. Nick sank two outside shots behind Manny’s screen, and when his man started playing up on him, Nick would dribble past him for a layup. He even hit one layup left-handed. Looseness was contagious. By the middle of the fourth quarter we were ahead by twelve points, loose and happy, and having fun. Fall River didn’t know what to do with us. We won by fifteen points.
In the locker room afterward we kept walking around saying how we’d won, saying how we were going to the tournament, saying how good we were. Then Russell stood up on one of the benches.
“Okay, we won!” he yelled. “We’re good. We’re going to the tourney. Now, what are we gonna do about Miss Delaney?”
“Lemme tell you,” I said.
Chapter 40
It was March. There were still patches of snow, but it got warm sooner on the south coast than anywhere else in Massachusetts. It wasn’t being south so much; we were only about forty miles below Boston. I was told it was because of the Gulf Stream. Whatever it was, it was warm enough again to sit in the bandstand, which was where Joanie and I were sitting. Some boats had gone back in the harbor already, bobbing pleasantly at their moorings. And some little kids were catching blowfish at the end of the wharf.
“When does the tournament start?” Joanie said.
“Next week,” I said. “Runs until spring vacation week.”
“You were so much better in the last part of the game than you were at first,” Joanie said.
“I gave them a pep talk,” I said.
“A pep talk?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Like Knute Rockne.”
“Who’s Newt Rockne?” Joanie said.
I shook my head.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Thing is, I got the idea from seeing you.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” I said. “I told them about Miss Delaney.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“Why on earth,” she said, “did you do that?”
“We were too tight,” I said. “Scared. I thought maybe if they saw how much less important this game was than a lot of things, we might relax. Give us something else to think about.”
“And it worked,” Joanie said.
“Something worked,” I said. “We’re going to the state tourney.”
“That’s wonderful,” Joanie said. “You’re so smart, Bobby.”
“Yes,” I said. “So are you. Let’s talk about the plan.”
“To save Miss Delaney?”
“Yeah.”
“The Owls are in?”
“All the way,” I said. “They can’t wait.”
“Miss Delaney says we shouldn’t do this, you know.”
“I know.”
“She says it might be dangerous.”
“There’s five of us,” I said.
“Six,” Joanie said.
“Oh, yeah, of course. I just... you’re a girl, you know?”
“And I can run as fast as you can,” she said.
“I know you can,” I said.
In fact, I thought she could probably run faster, but I didn’t like to admit that.
“It’s just that you don’t think about a girl doing something dangerous,” I said.
“I can help,” Joanie said. “I’m in too.”
“Okay.”
“Miss Delaney says she can’t allow us to do this,” Joanie said. “It’s dangerous and probably illegal.”
“She can’t stop us,” I said. “And we’re the only hope she’s got.”
“We could tell Mr. Welch,” Joanie said.
I shook my head.
“He may be an okay guy,” I said. “But he’s the damn school principal. She’s gonna get fired.”
Joanie nodded.
“I agree,” she said.
“So it’s us or she’s got no way out,” I said.
“I guess it’s us,” Joanie said.
Chapter 41
On Sunday afternoon, with the sun out and the melting snow making the highway shiny wet, I rode my bicycle up to Searsville and went to Reverend Tupper’s youth group meeting.
He had on his tan uniform. He greeted each of us by name. He seemed so pleasant when he did it, it was hard to remember the Richard Krauss we had heard in Miss Delaney’s house. Maybe it was just because I knew about Richard Krauss, but as he said hello to everybody, I thought of a casket salesman who had come to our house when my grandmother died. The salesman was all condolences and niceness, and like dead inside. I knew that inside of Reverend Tupper was Richard Krauss.
“Is there anyone in the room,” Reverend Tupper said when we were all settled in, “who doesn’t know the facts of life?”
A kid in front said, “You mean sex?”
“Don’t speak out, Tommy,” Tupper said. “Raise your hand. When called on, stand up and speak directly. It is appropriate to call adults sir.”
From his seat, the kid said, “Yes, sir.”
Tupper stared silently at him, and I thought I saw Richard Krauss peeking out. The kid looked confused, a guy next to him whispered, “Stand up.” And he did, quickly.
“Better,” Tupper said. “Repeat your question.”
“Sir,” the kid said, “when you say ‘facts of life,’ do you mean sex, sir?”
Reverend Tupper was now very sweet.
“Yes, Tommy,” he said, “I do.”
“Thank you, sir,” Tommy said.
“Do you know the facts, Tommy?” the reverend said.
“Yes sir.”
“Everyone?”
He raised his hand, all of us raised ours.
“Anyone who doesn’t?” the reverend asked.
He raised his hand again. Nobody raised theirs. There were kids in there who were sixteen years old. Everybody knew.
“Good,” he said. “Today the subject for discussion is the movie The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell. Has anyone seen it?”
He raised his hand. None of us raised ours. Russell had gone with Billy to see it, when it came to the local theater, but they couldn’t get in. Nobody would sell them a ticket. Russell blamed Billy. Because he was tall, he thought he looked older, and he claimed it was because Billy had such a baby face.
“Good,” the reverend said. “It is a disgrace. It corrupts the great story of America, the conquest of the west, where men stood alone motivated by honor and the spirit of independence to bring law and order to an uncivilized wasteland.”
I wanted to see the movie because of the ads showing Jane Russell in a blouse with a very low neck.
“Since the Jews took over our country, morality has plummeted, and The Outlaw is a perfect example of a movie that the Jews have promoted to distract us from their plans to slowly turn us over to the Communists.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what Communism was. I knew it had something to do with our Russian allies, but I didn’t know what it had to do with the Jews. I also couldn’t think of anybody in the government with a Jewish name. President Truman wasn’t Jewish, certainly. Neither was Senator Saltonstall.
“Each of you boys is a defiance of that attempt. Each of you contains the clean white blood of your ancestors. Each of you worships the one true God. You must not defile yourself. You must never succumb to the wiles of someone not of your heritage. To finally repel the Jews, we need an uncompromised line of white Christian men, generations of them, staying strong, keeping the faith.”
He churned on like that, getting kind of worked up, shaking his fist, stomping around up in front of his flag. What a jerk. Everybody sat and listened. I wondered if anybody took him seriously. They must have. Why would they come if they didn’t?
After the reverend was through, we all stood and said our pledge about being white and Christian, and we put our fists over our hearts, and that was it. Reverend Tupper went to the front door to shake each of our hands good bye. I hung around so that I was the last.