by Harry Mazer
Sammy hoped it would escape, but Kevin grabbed it. He pranced around, holding the rabbit by its ears. “What about that!”
“You’re hurting it,” Sammy said.
The rabbit cried when Kevin cut its throat. Sammy covered his eyes, but he looked. Blood bubbled up along the cut, like a black line drawn with a pencil. The rabbit’s legs kicked and then they didn’t.
Kevin hooked the rabbit to his belt by the hind legs, and they started back. Blood dripped on his pants. He stopped by a little stream. “Watch this,” he said. “You’re going to learn something.” He gutted and skinned the rabbit. He threw the guts and the head away. It didn’t look like a rabbit anymore.
When they got back, Kevin made a fire. Inside, he put a metal grate on some rocks. He bunched paper under it and lit it. The fire flared in the dimness. He sent Sammy out for sticks. “See if there’s any smoke showing,” he said.
“No smoke,” Sammy reported, coming back.
“Never is.” Kevin grilled the rabbit over the fire. “The way I did it, the smoke is sucked up through ten different holes in the rocks. Pretty smart, huh?”
When the meat was done, he tore it apart and told Sammy to dig in. “I don’t eat rabbit,” Sammy said.
“More for me.” Kevin chewed on a leg.
Sammy didn’t mean to eat it, but he was hungry, and it smelled so good. He tasted a little tiny piece. Then another piece, and then he couldn’t stop. Nothing had ever tasted so good. When there was nothing left but the bones, he chewed them.
16
Sammy watched Kevin unwrap a candy bar with chocolate and nuts. He took a big bite and chewed. Sammy swallowed. He could almost taste the chocolate in his mouth. “Can I go home tomorrow?” he said. His mother would make him chocolate chip cookies.
“What for?” Kevin licked his lips. “They don’t treat you so good.”
“They do. They’re nice to me,” Sammy said.
“You call being kicked out of your house nice? What happens when you go back? Your mom’s going to belt you. She’s going to say, ‘Why didn’t you chain your bike?’ That’s right! And then Carl’s going to kick your ass.”
Sammy bit his fingers. Was Carl going to do that? He’d never hit him, but… Kevin was smart. He knew a lot of things.
“People aren’t nice. They don’t leave you alone. Somebody’s always trying to make you do things you don’t want to do, or they kick you or chase you. It’s better here, in the woods.”
“Trees watch you,” Sammy said.
“Nobody squeals on you here. Nobody runs to the cops and says, ‘There’s this funny kid sleeping under the stairs.’ I just went in this place to get warm by the radiator. And then this cop comes with the bracelets on his belt that he’s going to snap around my wrists and drag me off someplace.”
Sammy kept his eye on the chocolate bar. It was getting smaller and smaller.
“Then they want to know who I am and why and what I’m doing,” Kevin went on. “Nobody’s business but my own, but I don’t say that. I jump out the window and run for it, then walk around the rest of the night till daylight comes and I can go in someplace and get something to eat.”
Sammy listened. The candy bar had a silver paper lining.
“No, man. People are no good. They put you out of the house; you think that’s nice? Your mother did that.”
“Can I have a piece of that candy?” It wasn’t polite to ask, but he couldn’t help it.
Kevin broke the remainder of the bar in two and gave the smaller piece to Sammy. “Thanks!” Sammy shoved it in his mouth, then tried to make it last by sucking on it.
“Why don’t you just stay here with me,” Kevin said.
“Stay with you?”
“I don’t care.”
“Always, you mean?”
“Not the rest of your life, man. Just for now.”
“Even in the wintertime?”
“It’s not that bad. You go over to the mall and sit in the library.”
“Is that far away?”
“What do you care? It’s not that far. Nothing’s that far away. Sometimes I help people with their packages and get some money. If it snows a lot, we stay here. Oh, man, I was warm, but once I couldn’t get out for three days.”
“Could I visit my sister and my mother?”
“What for?”
“I like my sister. I miss her.”
“Look at me, Sammy. I don’t have a sister. I don’t have a mother, and I’m okay. You don’t see me crying. I get along good.”
Sammy thought about that. “So you would be like my brother, almost?”
Kevin shrugged. “Yeah, if you want me to.”
“That would be good,” Sammy said. “But I would still miss my mother and sister.”
“What’s so great about your sister, anyway? She’s probably stuck-up.”
Sammy swallowed the last bit of chocolate and ran his tongue over his teeth. “Bethan is not stuck-up. She’s funny, and she helps me a lot. She teaches me things. She says if I keep practicing, I can learn anything.”
“Yeah? How about those shoelaces? How come you can’t tie your own shoelaces? Why didn’t she teach you that?”
“It’s too hard. My mother says—”
“See, that’s what I mean. They’re making a baby out of you. Here, give me that sneaker.” He grabbed one of Sammy’s sneakers and tied the lace. “Now, you do it.”
Sammy tried, but it came out all wrong, as always, a big mess. “Boy, oh boy,” he said. “I can’t do that one.”
Kevin studied him. “Are you trying, or are you just giving up? You want to know how to do it or don’t you?”
“I do,” Sammy said.
“Then pay attention. Are you watching?” Kevin knelt behind Sammy and guided his hands. He did it once, then he did it again, and again. “Now, you do it.”
Sammy did it. “Is that right?” he said.
“Not perfect, but that’s it. Try it again.”
Sammy was surprised. After a few more times, he was doing it. He was tying his shoelaces. It wasn’t any harder than swimming.
“Okay, buddy!” Kevin punched him in the arm. It hurt, but it was a good punch.
“Now let me punch you,” Sammy said.
“Go,” Kevin said, and Sammy punched him. “You call that a punch? Do it again.”
Sammy did.
“Mosquito bite,” Kevin said. “Baby touch. Come on, punch me hard. Draw your fist back. Turn sideways, and then let it go as hard as you can.”
Sammy put everything into the punch. Whaam! Kevin fell down and lay still. “I’m sorry.” Sammy leaned over him. “I’m sorry, Kevin!”
Kevin sat up and laughed. “You didn’t do so bad for a beginner,” he said.
17
“You’re going to help me today,” Kevin said. “You ready to work?”
“I’m a good worker,” Sammy said. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan is to make more room inside. We’re going to knock down this wall.” He touched the wall with the window in it. It was part of a big wooden packing case, disguised with branches on the outside. They pulled away the brush first, then slid the packing case out and propped it with rocks.
The inside was open now, on the side and on the top. Sammy looked up at the sky. “If it rains, we’ll get wet.” There were clouds in the sky. “Uh-oh, better not rain right now.”
“Come on,” Kevin said. “Stop talking.”
Kevin cut down six skinny trees with a little saw, and they carried them back to the camp. One at a time, they set them between the packing case and the rocks. Kevin spread plastic over them and covered everything with a crisscross of branches, twigs, and leaves.
Sammy was getting tired and hungry, but Kevin wouldn’t stop. He kept running from inside to out, looking at everything from different angles. “We have to camouflage it better,” he said.
“I know what that means,” Sammy said. “It’s like army stuff. I have a camouflage suit.”
>
“Cool,” Kevin said.
Kevin moved rocks around to make the wall look more natural. When they got done piling brush against it, it looked like bushes growing next to rocks.
Inside, the room was big now. In back was the cave, and in front was a regular room. They arranged Kevin’s mattress and Sammy’s blanket next to each other. “Cool,” Sammy said.
18
When the helicopter flew over, they were playing a game. Kevin had drawn a circle in the dirt. “You’ve got to aim,” he said. “Hand-eye coordination. Watch me.” He threw a small flat stone, and it fell perfectly into the circle. “That’s ten points. If it lands on the line, it’s five. Don’t expect yours to be perfect. You’ve got to practice.”
Sammy threw his stone. “Go in!” he ordered. It bounced outside the circle, then fell in. “Ten points,” he yelled. “I got ten points. Yay for me!”
“That’s a bouncer,” Kevin said. “Bouncers get three.” He threw again and missed completely. “Stop fidgeting!” he said to Sammy. “You threw me off.”
When it was Sammy’s turn, the stone landed just inside the circle. “Ten points! Ten points!” He was excited. “How many does that make, Kevin?”
“Count!”
Sammy counted under his breath. “Twenty!”
“You don’t have twenty,” Kevin said. “You’ve got thirteen.”
Suddenly there was a clatter in the air, like someone banging on a giant tin can. A helicopter appeared just over the treetops. It had big white numbers on the side. Sammy started waving and shouting. “Here I am! Here I am!”
Kevin grabbed him and pushed him down to the ground.
“Let me go,” Sammy said. “Let me go, Kevin. It’s looking for me.”
“Shut up!” Kevin punched him. He held him down till the sound of the helicopter disappeared. “You want to get me killed?” he said, releasing Sammy. “Blasting off that mouth of yours.”
Sammy drew away from Kevin as far as he could and sat against the rock with his knees up.
“Okay, forget it,” Kevin said. “You want to play?”
Sammy rubbed his arm.
“Come on, let’s play. You’re winning.”
“No.”
“What’s the matter with you?”
“You don’t hit your friends.”
“Yeah, and a friend doesn’t stab his friend in the back, either. Those guys come down here, you know what that means? That’s me locked up again.”
“You hit me,” Sammy said.
“Oh, man, don’t make a big thing of it. You know how many times I’ve been hit? Someone hits me, I laugh in their face. Everyone gets hit. That’s life. Come on, forget it. Let’s play.”
Sammy wouldn’t play, and he wouldn’t talk. He was thirsty, but he wouldn’t drink Kevin’s water. Hungry, but he wouldn’t eat Kevin’s food. “I want to go home,” he said.
19
“You talking to me yet?” Kevin said the next morning.
Sammy shrugged, the way Kevin shrugged. He could be tough, too.
“I got a surprise for you.” Kevin had been going in and out all morning, looking through his boxes and pulling out clothes and putting them in his knapsack. “You want to know what it is?”
Sammy didn’t reply.
Kevin put on the knapsack. “Come on.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
It was a hot day. They climbed the rock rubble above the shelter and Sammy was soon sweating. He was glad when they reached the dead trees and they were back in the woods again. He followed Kevin closely, swatting at the flies biting his neck. They crossed a trail and came out of the woods at the edge of a small pond.
“So what do you think?” Kevin said. “Is that a good surprise or not?”
“Good! This is good, Kevin.” He loved water. He swam in the Special Olympics every year, and every year he came home with ribbons. He squatted down and put his hand in the water.
“Maybe we can catch some frogs,” Kevin said. “You want to eat a froggie?”
Sammy shook his head. “No way, man!”
“You didn’t want to eat rabbits, either. But you did, and it was good, huh?”
“No frogs,” Sammy said. “Let’s go swimming.”
“You go,” Kevin said, throwing the clothes he’d brought into the water.
Sammy shed his clothes and plunged in. The water grabbed him and soothed him. It made him happy all over.
As he swam across the pond, birds flew up out of the reeds. “Hello, birds. It’s me, Sammy,” he told them. “Don’t be afraid.”
He swam all around the pond, then back to Kevin. He was sitting on a rock with his clothes spread out to dry.
“Come on in,” Sammy said. “Don’t you want to swim?”
“No.”
“Why not? Everyone likes to swim.”
“Not me.”
“It’s not even cold anymore.”
Kevin put a toe in the water. “Okay, I’m in. How’s that?”
“All of you,” Sammy said.
Kevin let himself into the water and dog-paddled around, staying close to the edge.
“You don’t swim that good,” Sammy said. “Put your face in the water. That’s the dead man’s float. Only you’re not dead. And you kick your feet.” He demonstrated, making a big splash.
Hanging on to a log, Kevin made a bigger splash.
“Want to swim to the other side with me?” Sammy said.
“Is it deep?”
Sammy let himself sink down. His toes touched mucky mud. He popped up. “Just a little deep.”
“No, thanks, I’m staying right here. And if you get in trouble, I’m not going to save you.”
Sammy swam around him. “Don’t be afraid, Kevin.”
“Hey, who’s afraid?” Kevin let go of the log and took a couple of strokes.
“That’s the way,” Sammy said.
Then something happened. Kevin swallowed water and choked and started thrashing around. “I’m drowning!”
“Get on your back,” Sammy said. “Turn over, Kevin! I’ll help you.” But when he got near, Kevin caught him and wouldn’t let go, and they both went under.
Sammy kicked loose and popped up to the surface.
Kevin came up. He went down and he came up. His eyes looked crazy, and he went under again.
When he came up, Sammy was behind him. “Don’t grab me,” he shouted. He got hold of Kevin’s hair. “Let me…don’t grab.” He pulled Kevin into shallow water.
Kevin staggered to the rock. He was coughing, spitting up water. He sat in the sun, shivering.
“I saved you,” Sammy said.
Kevin pulled a towel around himself.
“You were learning to swim,” Sammy said.
“Man, I was learning to drown.” Afterward he sat on the rock, picking at scabs on his legs while Sammy swam back and forth across the pond.
20
“We’re going on a special trip,” Kevin said.
“Where? What is it? Tell me what it is, Kevin.”
“You’ll see. You’ll like it.”
“Because we’re friends?” Sammy said.
“That’s right.”
Before they left, Kevin looked Sammy over and told him to wash his face. He gave Sammy one of his black T-shirts to wear under his jacket and watched while he tied his shoelaces. He wore a black T-shirt, too.
“Exactly two thirty-eight in the P.M.,” Sammy said when they left.
“Perfect,” Kevin said.
They went up over the rocks, but when they got to the dead trees, Kevin went a different way.
They came out of the woods in the back of a cemetery, where the grass mowers were kept. There was a garbage heap of clippings and discarded ribbons and empty flowerpots.
“If I say duck,” Kevin said, “you duck. If I say run, you run. If I say don’t breathe, you don’t breathe.”
Sammy practiced not breathing. He could hold his breath a long time.
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br /> They walked through the cemetery. A line of cars were parked along the curving road, and people were clumped together under a canopy. “Funeral,” Kevin said. “That’s good.”
Were they going to a funeral? Was that the special thing Kevin had promised him? But, instead, they returned to the back of the cemetery.
“You wait here,” Kevin said. “If anyone comes, just duck into the woods. Don’t talk to anybody. Got that?”
Sammy nodded. “Got it.”
“We’re partners, right?” Kevin held out his hand, and Sammy slapped it. Kevin left his knapsack and jacket with Sammy and ran down the road toward the cars.
Sammy folded the jacket carefully on top of the knapsack, then sat down to wait for Kevin. The sun was shining, and the wind chased the leaves around in little circles.
Kevin appeared suddenly behind him. “Come on.” He grabbed his jacket and knapsack, and they ran back into the woods. Kevin threw himself down on the ground and pulled a wallet from his pocket and another wallet from his other pocket. He took the money from them and buried both wallets under leaves. Then he led the way out of the woods.
Sammy followed. He was holding his breath, practicing swimming underwater. Or the dead man’s float. Maybe somebody gave the wallets to Kevin. Some nice person who said, “Take the money and throw that dirty old wallet away.”
They walked along the edge of the woods, past some big old buildings, then followed a long driveway to the main road. Kevin ran his fingers through his hair and tucked his shirt in. Sammy did the same. He looked at the pocket where Kevin had all the money. He knew nobody had given Kevin the money. Maybe Kevin was going to give it back someday. Or he would. He’d just go up to the person and say, “Sorry, my friend made a mistake.”
There were six lanes of cars going in both directions. Sammy had forgotten there were so many cars in the world. He almost got dizzy. Cars, cars, cars. “Boy, oh boy,” he said.
They went halfway across, then waited on the divider for a break in the traffic. On the other side, they ran across a half-empty parking lot to a huge mall. Buses were lined up in front of one of the entrances.