by Gene Wolfe
He shook his head.
“They say you always catch a pass. Two men coverin’ you. Three. It don’t matter. You always catch it.”
“I’ve been lucky.”
“Uh-huh. Ms. Fournier, she says you’re a genius. You been lucky there, too, I guess.”
“I don’t think so.”
Dr. Grimes sat in silence for half a minute regarding him. At last she said, “If a boy’s too smart, the other boys don’t like that, do they? Maybe he was just lucky, but if he’d been luckier he would have missed a question. Maybe two. I ever tell you I like you?”
He nodded.
“I do, Bill. First time I talked to you, you seem like such a nice kid, and you got a good imagination. Now you seem like a nice man with a real good education and a kid’s face. That first one was interestin’. This one here, this is real interestin’.”
“You’re wrong,” he said.
“I get up in the mornin’, and I want to come to work. That’s because of you. How am I wrong, Bill? Tell me.”
He rose, sensing that the period was nearly over. “You think I’ve grown up, somehow, inside. I haven’t. I know a lot more than I did, because I’ve been trying to decipher the runes on the scabbard. But I’m still Bill Wachter, and I’m still young. Inside. ‘When all the world is young, lad, and all the trees are green, and every goose a swan, lad, and every lass a queen. Then hey for boot and horse, lad, and round the world away. Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog his day.’”
Dr. Grimes only watched him with thoughtful eyes; so when a second, and two, had ticked past, he turned and went out into the hall.
She said nothing to stop him, and he was ten paces from her door when the bell rang.
Sue and a tall, smiling man in a checked sportcoat were waiting for him when he left the locker room after the game. “This is Mr. Archer,” Sue said. “He’s going to take us to Perry’s for a bite, if that’s all right with you, Bill. Is it?”
He smiled. “Do you want to go?”
“Not if you don’t.”
“Then I do,” he said, and her hand slipped into his.
Mr. Archer’s car was a red Park Avenue Ultra with tinted windows. “You two sit in back,” he told them. “It’ll take twenty minutes or so, and I can’t talk worth a damn when I’m driving.”
Mr. Archer got in and tilted the rearview mirror up; and Bill opened the door for Sue, and got in himself on the other side. By the time that they had left Veterans Avenue behind, and with it the last traffic of the game, his hand had slid beneath her sweater and under the waistband of her skirt.
She was prim and ladylike when Archer opened the door of the car for her; but she left as soon as Perry’s headwaiter had seated them, to repair her makeup in the restroom.
“Beautiful girl,” Mr. Archer said appreciatively. “You know her long, Bill?”
“Yes and no.” Although he had held the restaurant’s door for them both like a gentleman, and had pulled out Sue’s chair for her (beating the headwaiter to it by one tenth of one second), his mind was still whirling. “We rode the same bus last year, and she was in my homeroom and some of my classes. It was the forth week of the school year before we got to be close friends.” He cleared his throat. “September twenty-second.”
Archer smiled. “You remember the exact day.”
“Certainly.”
“You didn’t play last year, did you? I don’t think freshmen are eligible.”
He shook his head, trying to recall his freshman year. Things had been so different then. So very, very different. So very much worse. “No,” he said. “You’re correct, they aren’t, and I wouldn’t have gone out anyway.”
“She couldn’t have known you’d be a star.”
“She didn’t even know I’d go out. That day—the day we really noticed each other—hadn’t decided to do it. Or even thought about it, really.”
“Sue didn’t tell you what I do.” Mr. Archer took a card folder from a pocket of his sport coat, fished out a card, and laid it on the table between them. “I’m an assistant coach, just like that card says. I coach offense, and I go to high-school games whenever I get the chance, Bill, hoping to spot some real talent. Mostly I don’t.”
“In that case,” he said slowly, “it was very nice of you to take us out like this.”
A waiter came; Mr. Archer ordered a John Collins and two Diet Cokes.
“There are fifty players on each team this early in the season,” Mr. Archer said, “so a hundred altogether. Why am I being nice to you?”
“I suppose because my parents weren’t there. I ought to explain that. They wanted to come, but I begged them not to. I was afraid I wouldn’t get to play at all, and that if I did I’d play badly.”
Returning, Sue said, “You didn’t, Bill. You made the Panthers look like monkeys out there.”
Mr. Archer said, “The score was twenty-zip. Who scored all three touchdowns?”
“I was lucky, that’s all.”
“Five times I saw you catch passes that ought to have been incompletions. Three times I saw you catch passes that should have been interceptions.”
A waitress brought their drinks.
“You know the three-times rule, Bill? Once, that’s an accident. Twice, that’s a coinkydink. Three times, that’s enemy action. You were the—what school was that, Bill? Who were you playing?”
“Pershing.” Sue had gripped his leg under the table and was squeezing hard, probably as hard as she could, but he had no idea why.
“You were Pershing’s enemy,” Mr. Archer said. “An enemy they couldn’t handle. You weren’t watching their coach, but I was—I used to coach high school myself. He was chewing nails and spitting them at his players.”
“Bill,” Sue whispered, “for just a minute I have to talk to you.”
“So do I,” Archer told her. “I need to tell him about some of the scholarships we’ve got. But all my talking will take quite a while, and maybe you won’t. I’ll go wash my hands.”
Over his shoulder he added, “If you want nachos or anything just order. Steaks. Whatever. On me.”
Sue leaned closer, her voice almost inaudible. “Our waitress. Did you look at her, Bill?”
He shook his head.
“It’s Dinah.”
Back in the Park Avenue Ultra, Mr. Archer asked where they wanted to go. Sue said, “Where Edison and Cottonwood cross. It’s a white house, two stories, with a big porch. Okay, Bill?”
“We ought to take you home first.”
“No way. You won’t tell your folks a thing. Take us to Bill’s house, Mr. Archer. Where I said. His mom and dad shouldn’t find out he’s a hero from the paper.”
“Sue …
Archer said, “You’re afraid I’ll go in and buttonhole your parents. You want some time to think it over yourself first. Am I right, Bill?”
He was not, but Bill said he was.
“I understand, and I won’t do it. Listen, Bill, I want to tell you something and I want you to remember it. I was all-city quarterback once, back before you were born. Where you are now? I’ve been there, too. I know what it’s like. You keep my card and I’ll talk to you again in a few days.”
“Your folks are nice,” Sue said as he walked her home. “They let me tell them all that stuff before they told us they’d been listening on the radio. Did you notice?”
He nodded.
“College games get on TV. State’s always do, around here, because there are so many grads. Mr. Archer didn’t say that, so I’ll say it now. Just something to think about, Bill.”
“I am.”
Sue glanced at him, then away. “Here’s something else. My mom is a very good mother, but she works really hard. She has to be at work at seven, and when she gets home she has to clean and cook. I help as much as I can, and so does Chick. But she does most of it.”
This time it was Shep who said, “Sure.”
Sue did not seem to notice. “So she won’t have listened
to the game, Bill. I’m sorry, but she won’t. I mean, I’ll tell her tomorrow. But she won’t have heard much about it on the radio.”
He said, “That’s good.”
“In fact, she’ll be in bed asleep by the time we get there. That’s something else to think about, Bill.”
Bill thought.
The hills were behind them, the plain ahead of them, flat and featureless, an empty expanse of dry brown grass across which a chill wind moaned. He had given the leather coat with its steel rings to Sue; its shoulders were too big for her and its sleeves too long, but that was good and the leather kept out the wind. “Where are we going?” she said.
He pointed. “See those mountains? There’s a city, a golden city, on the other side. We’re going there.”
“What for?”
“Because it’s the only place to go. You can go there, or you can die here. That’s all the choices we have.” He paused, considering. “I can’t make you go there. I’d have to hit you or something, and tie you up when I slept, and I won’t do that. Maybe there’s something over that way, or over there. I don’t know, and if you want to go look, I’ll go with you. But—”
“I’m going where you’re going, Bill.” Sue’s voice was firm. “I’ve already told you that. Only I’ve got a lot of questions.”
“I haven’t got any answers,” he said.
There was a wild cry high overhead, as lonely and inhuman as the keening of a hawk. They looked up, and saw the great bird that had uttered it sailing through ragged cloud, and watched it circle and descend. “That’s Biltis,” he said. “Maybe she’ll help us.”
“She gave Sue a wand with which she can start fires,” he wrote in his notebook the next day, “and said we would come to a river, and that there would be a cave in the bank which we were not to enter on any account.
“Sue clasped my arm and said, ‘He belongs to me!’ but Biltis only laughed and said I belonged to both of them, and that I had from the beginning.”
“Come on in, Bill, and shut the door.” Dr. Grimes waved toward a chair. “This here is Dr. Hayes. Dr. Hayes was my teacher a long time ago. Over there’s Ms. Biltis from the school board. I told them I wanted to get Dr. Hayes to consult, and they said okay, but they had to have somebody here to see what was goin’ on. So that’s Ms. Biltis.”
Dinah said, “Bill and I have met already. Hi, Bill.”
He said hi in return.
Dr. Hayes asked, “Does he always bring the dog, Tacey?”
Dr. Grimes shook her head. “He talks about it, but I never did see it before. Is that Shep, Bill?”
He nodded.
Dinah said, “It’s contrary to our regulations to have a dog in the building or on school property unless it’s a guide dog for the blind. In this case, the board’s willing to make an exception.”
“That’s good,” Dr. Grimes said.
Dr. Hayes shaped a steeple from his fingers. “Why did you bring your dog today, Bill?”
“He’s not really my dog,” Bill said, “he’s my lawyer.”
Dr. Grimes looked surprised. Dinah laughed; she had a pretty laugh, and it made him feel better to hear it.
Dr. Hayes’s expression did not change in the least. “I’m not sure I understand. Perhaps you’d better explain.”
“I don’t mean he’s a real lawyer. He hasn’t passed the bar. But I felt I needed someone to advise me, and I know Shep’s smart and that he’s on my side.”
“I’m on your side too, Bill.”
Dr. Grimes said, “So am I, Bill. I thought you knew that.”
Dinah grinned; it was a attractive grin, and full of mischief. “We of the board are always on the side of the students.”
“But you’re over there.” Bill gestured, “and Shep and I are over here.”
“I can fix that.” Dinah got up and moved her chair so that she sat on his left and Shep on his right.
Dr. Hayes nodded to her. “Is there a statement you wish to make on behalf of the school board before I begin?”
Dinah shook her head. “I’ll reserve it.”
“I would prefer that you not interrupt. Quite frankly, your presence poses a threat to the exploratory examination I wish to undertake. Interruptions may render it futile.”
“What about the dog?” Dinah smiled.
Shep said, “Nope.”
“If the dog proves to be an impediment, we’ll dismiss it, although I doubt that will be necessary.”
Bill said, “I’m missing social studies.”
Dr. Hayes nodded again. “We’re aware of it, and we’ve discussed it with your teacher. She says you have already earned an A, that you know much more of the subject than her course is designed to teach her students. What day of the week is this, Bill?”
“Monday.”
“Correct. And the date?”
“October fifth.”
“Also correct. We are in a building of some sort. Do you know what building it is?”
“Kennedy Consolidated.”
“And why are you here, Bill?”
He stroked Shep’s head, at which Shep said, “Dunno.”
“Bill?” Dr. Hayes sounded polite but wary.
“I was thinking, sir. I could offer three or four explanations, but I don’t have much confidence in any of them. The truth is that I don’t know. Why am I?”
“In order that you can provide those explanations, for one thing. Will you?”
Dr. Grimes said, “You see, Bill, what you say to us is goin’ to be a whole lot more help than anythin’ we could say to you. You been sittin’ in some class with a teacher, day after day, I know. This’s kinda like that, only you’re the teacher now, and me and Ms. Biltis and Doctor Hayes, we’re the class you’re teachin’.”
Shep said, “Go ahead, Chief.”
“All right.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “I’ve been writing down my dreams in study hall. You told me to do that, but I was doing it before you told me, and Mrs. Durkin read my notebook over my shoulder and decided that I was psychotic. She likes me, but she still thinks I’m psychotic. She feels sorry for me.”
Dr. Hayes said, “We all do, Bill.”
“Not me,” Dr. Grimes said. “Bill can take care of himself. I only wish he’d help me understand him more,’cause I don’t. I don’t indeed.”
Dinah grinned again. “Me neither. I feel sorry—”
The telephone rang. Dr. Grimes picked it up and said, “Counselin’. Oh, hello, Sue. You know I never have met you, but I’ve heard a sight about you from this nice Bill Wachter. He thinks you got angel wings, you know that?
“Why, no.
“Now don’t you worry. I got my ‘pointment book right here. Maybe two o’clock tomorrow?
“That’s good. No, don’t you worry none ‘bout Shep. I got him right here. I been talkin’ to him my own self.” Dr. Grimes laughed. “Course he hasn’t said much back, Sue. But maybe he will. What he say to you?
“That’s good. That Shep’s a good sensible dog, Sue. Don’t you worry. You come see me tomorrow.”
Dr. Grimes’s smile faded as she hung up. “Shep’s been talkin’ to Sue too, Dr. Hayes. Sue’s Bill’s girlfriend.”
Dinah said, “One of them.”
“He didn’t say nothin’ bad, only wantin’ to know where Bill was. So she told him and he went off. She’d like to see me, but the door was closed—just a minute ago, I guess—so she called from the phone in the cafeteria. Yes, Bill? You want to say somethin’?”
He nodded. “I’ve been pondering the speech of animals. It’s not that the kiss that flew to me suddenly made animals talk. It’s that the kiss let me understand what they were saying. Love is at the root of it. The more you love anyone or anything, the better you understand it. She kissed me, and I kissed Sue, and that may be the reason Sue understands Shep now.”
“I got a cat I call Catcat,” Dr. Grimes said. “I don’t understand Catcat very good, but that Catcat understands me backward and forward too. She likes me mo
re than I like her. That what you’re sayin’?”
Shep said, “Yep.”
Dinah said, “I’m going to interrupt here. Bill promised us several explanations and has delivered only one, that the Durkin woman thinks he’s psychotic. I would like to hear the others. Also I want to say that I understand Shep perfectly—not that he’s said much, but what he has said has been in plain Doggish, which is quite different from doggerel. If the student who called understands him too, she’s no crazier than I am.”
Dr. Hayes and Dr. Grimes stared at her.
“Bill’s never kissed me. Is that supposed to make a difference? I’ve kissed him, though.”
Dr. Hayes leaned toward Dr. Grimes. “I seem to be losing control of the situation, Tacey. My apologies.”
“I guess you see now why I wanted you?”
Nodding, he turned to Dinah. “I take it you’re a friend of Bill’s family, Ms. Biltis?”
“Why, no. I don’t know Bill’s parents at all.”
He cleared his throat. “She wants another explanation, and one just occurred to me. Would anyone like to hear it?”
Dinah said, “I would, Bill,” and Dr. Grimes nodded.
“I don’t credit this one either,” Bill said. “I should make that clear. But I find it interesting.” He held up his notebook. “Before I met Biltis I met a dwarf on horseback. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I was overtaken by him. It’s all in here.”
He paused, inviting them to read his notebook if they cared to. No one spoke.
“He gave me a sword. I want to call it an enchanted sword, and perhaps it is. Certainly the spells on the scabbard are magical, and doubtless those engraved on the blade are magical as well. I can read the spells on the scabbard somewhat. I read them badly and quite slowly, but eventually I can puzzle them out. Sue and Shep cannot read them at all.”
Dr. Hayes said, “Do you feel that these enchantments explain your presence here, Bill? That the casting of a spell has compelled you to come, perhaps?”