Looking straight down into the greenish water, I could see small fish moving about the base of the dock. Much too small to catch. It was too late in the year to fish, anyway. I wondered if people didn’t fish after Labor Day because the fish went somewhere, or if it was just because people thought it was too cold to sit out there with a line. Or maybe that was just the way it was done. The grown-up world was filled with stuff that you did because that’s the way it was done.
The sun was behind me and to my right as I sat looking at the water. I saw her shadow before I saw her.
“Can I sit and stare at the water too?” Joanie said.
“It’s not my water,” I said.
She sat beside me. Her hair was shiny and smelled nice, like she’d just washed it.
“Nick says he thinks you’re mad about him going to the Boat Club party with me.”
“I’m not mad,” I said. “He’s your boyfriend.”
“No,” Joanie said. “He’s not.”
Something jumped inside me.
“He says he is.”
“I can’t help that,” Joanie said. “But I am not his girlfriend.”
“So why did you invite him to the party?”
“He’s cute, and he’s kind of nice,” she answered. “He isn’t grabby or anything.”
I nodded. Two gulls landed near us and looked at us. In the summer, when we fished, we’d throw them a piece of bait, or maybe a small fish.
“But I’m not his girlfriend,” Joanie said.
I nodded again.
“So why are you mad?”
“I told you,” I said, “I’m not mad.”
“We promised never to be mad at each other,” Joanie said.
I nodded.
“And we promised always to be each other’s friend,” she said.
I nodded again. Our feet dangled over the edge of the dock, side by side. Hers were crossed at the ankles. She had on her saddle shoes again. I was wearing the thick-soled oxblood-colored shoes with two eyelets that I liked.
“Did we promise not to lie to each other?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I think we should,” Joanie said. “I mean, how are we going to be each other’s friend always, if we lie?”
“You think I’m lying?” I said.
Joanie nodded her head slowly. I smiled at her.
“Damn,” I said.
She cocked her head a little and widened her eyes and shrugged.
“Promise?” she said.
“Promise,” I said.
The two gulls got tired of waiting, and gave up and flew off.
“So,” Joanie said. “Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Nick?”
“No.”
“But you’re mad about something.”
“I’m jealous,” I said.
It came out before I knew it was going to, and now that it was out, there was no way to put it back.
“Did you wish I’d asked you?” Joanie said.
“I don’t know. I know I didn’t like it. I know I kept thinking about you in there. I thought, What if they are doing stuff?”
“You mean like kissing?” Joanie asked. “Making out?”
“Yes.”
My voice sounded hoarse to me. The sky seemed much higher than it had and the harbor seemed bigger. Across the harbor the neck seemed really far.
“I asked Nick because he’s very nice,” Joanie said. “He doesn’t even joke around or talk dirty the way Russell does. He’s very polite.”
I nodded.
“I’ve never made out with anybody,” Joanie said.
I took a big breath. The ocean air was clean and bright. The neck didn’t seem so far away.
“Me either,” I said.
CHAPTER 14
THERE was a substitute teacher for Miss Delaney on Monday and Tuesday. We tortured her until Miss Delaney came back on Wednesday. There were some bruises showing on her face.
“I fell down the stairs,” she told us. “I just tripped and fell.”
“You drunk, Miss Delaney?” Russell said.
Everyone laughed, including Miss Delaney. It looked to me like when she laughed, it was uncomfortable.
“Sadly,” she said with a smile, “I was not.”
After class I hung back, and when no one else was in the room I went to the desk where Miss Delaney was sitting marking something in her rank book.
She didn’t look up.
“Did he do something?” I asked.
“Who?” she said.
“That guy,” I said. “The one I saw you with.”
She looked up at me.
“Bobby,” she said slowly, “it is none of your business.”
“I just want to help,” I said.
“You can help by saying nothing more about it, to me, or to anyone else,” Miss Delaney said, “as you promised.”
“I’ll bet it was him,” I said.
“No,” Miss Delaney said. “It was not.”
She looked straight at me. Neither of us said anything else. I didn’t know what to do. Finally, I turned and walked out of the room.
Outside in the school yard the Owls were already practicing. They were running up and down the court passing the ball back and forth, not dribbling at all. It was Russell’s idea. We got to work on our wind and our passing at the same time. The object was not to take more than two and a half steps with the ball. It was pretty cold, and it was getting dark earlier and earlier. But as long as it didn’t snow, we were all right, even if we had to play with too many clothes on.
Billy dropped out of the running and came over to me.
“You talk to her?” he asked me.
“Yeah.”
“Did he do it?” Billy said. “That guy?”
“She said no.”
“What’d you say?”
“I said I thought he did.”
“She get mad?”
“Kind of,” I said. “I told her we just wanted to help.”
“What’d she say about that?”
“She said it wasn’t him and she kind of gave me the evil eye, you know?”
“Oh yeah,” Billy said. “The mean look. She’s usually so nice, you can’t friggin’ believe it when she gives you that mean look. So what are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You guys gonna practice?” Russell said. “Or you just gonna chew the fat all the rest of the day?”
“Maybe we should tell somebody,” Billy said.
“We promised not to,” I said.
Billy shrugged.
“Hey,” Russell yelled. “You too good to practice?”
Russell liked being in charge. He fired the ball at us and it bounced off the school wall and rolled away. I went after it, and got it and dribbled it back toward the practice area.
“Okay,” I said. “Watch yourself. Murphy’s on the move.”
CHAPTER 15
THANK God it was raining hard after school the next day, so I didn’t have to practice. Instead, I waited in the stairwell until Joanie came down the stairs with her girlfriends. We looked at each other.
As she passed she said, “Bandstand?”
I nodded. She went on with her girlfriends and I walked down to the bandstand with my Owls jacket buttoned up, and the rain falling hard on my bare head. I was in the bandstand for maybe ten minutes when Joanie arrived in a raincoat with a big green scarf over her hair. It was dark. The rain clouds seemed only a few feet above the bandstand. The harbor water was almost black. There was no one else in sight.
“Our kind of day,” Joanie said when she sat down.
“‘Stormy Weather,’” I said.
She smiled.
“What’s wrong?” Joanie said.
I got up and walked to the railing and looked down at the empty harbor.
“I don’t know who else to talk to,” I said.
“I’m glad it’s me,” Joanie said.
The we
ather was so thick, I couldn’t see across the harbor. The neck was invisible.
“I promised I wouldn’t tell anybody,” I said.
Joanie didn’t say anything. She sat with her knees together and her hands in her lap. She was wearing white rubber rain boots.
“I gotta tell somebody about it,” I said. “I gotta figure out what to do.”
“I’ll help,” Joanie said.
I turned back toward Joanie. I was so close to the edge of the bandstand that I could feel the rain on the back of my jacket.
“But a man’s supposed to keep his word,” I said.
“You’re supposed to do what you said you’d do.”
Joanie looked at me for a long time without saying anything.
“I think,” she said finally, “that a man does what he thinks is the right thing to do, even if it means breaking his word.”
We looked at each other without speaking for a while.
Then I said, “Somebody’s trying to hurt Miss Delaney.”
“What do you mean?” Joanie said. “Who?”
“There’s a guy,” I said. “I’ve seen him…” And I told her what I had seen, and what Miss Delaney had said.
“Is it some sort of love thing?” Joanie asked.
“Miss Delaney?”
“Sure. Teachers have boyfriends and stuff, don’t they?”
“But if he loves her, why is he mean to her?” I said.
“It happens a lot,” she said. “Remember that movie with Bette Davis?”
“No.”
“You know, when George Brent was the husband?”
“I didn’t see it,” I said.
“Anyway, I’ll bet it’s some kind of love business,” Joanie said. “Maybe we should tell Mr. Welch.”
“Miss Delaney says it will get her in trouble.”
“Mr. Welch isn’t so bad,” Joanie said.
“No,” I said. “But doesn’t he have to do what the town tells him to do?”
“I guess.”
“You know what they’re like,” I said.
“Yes.”
“So we’ll have to figure out how to help her ourselves.”
“Are the other Owls in on this?” Joanie said.
“Just Billy,” I said. “But they’ll help us if I tell them.”
“So what are we going to do?” she said.
“We probably gotta start by finding out who this guy is,” I said.
“How?”
“I got his license plate number,” I said.
“And how do you find out whose it is?” Joanie asked. “We’re kids. We can’t just call up and ask whose plate is this.”
“I know,” I said. “They won’t tell us. You know any grown-ups we could trust?”
“No,” Joanie said. “And if I did, I think they won’t tell you even if you’re a grown-up. Unless you’re a cop or something.”
“We’ll have to follow him,” I said.
“How will you even find him to follow?”
“We’ll have to follow Miss Delaney,” I said. “And if he comes to see her again, we’ll follow him.”
“How will you follow him if he’s in his car?” Joanie said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “We’ll just have to do the best we can.”
“And then what?” Joanie said.
I felt good. We had a plan. Joanie was going to help.
“Then we’ll figure out the next step,” I said.
CHAPTER 16
“WHAT about basketball?” Russell said.
All five of us were squeezed into a booth at the Village Shop, drinking Orange Crush.
“The weather’s so crappy,” I said, “we won’t be able to practice much anyway. We know our plays. We can do our wind sprints on our own. And we can play the games on Saturday morning.”
“What about Miss Delaney telling us not to get involved?” Billy said.
“We gotta,” I said. “She’s in trouble and she’s got nobody to help her.”
“Geez,” Nick said. “You sound like Boston Blackie.”
“The other day in class,” I said. “You saw how she was all beat up.”
“Maybe she really did fall down the stairs,” Manny said.
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “She needs help. You guys can help or not. But I’m going to do something.”
“Anybody else know about this?” Russell asked.
“Joanie,” I said.
“Joanie Gibson?” Nick said.
“Yeah.”
“That means Nick is ready to go,” Russell said.
Billy and Manny laughed. Nick didn’t say anything. Neither did I.
“So, who’s in?” Russell said.
“Me,” Manny answered.
Billy nodded.
“I’m in,” he said.
“You in, Nick?” Russell said.
“Sure,” Nick said.
“Hell,” Russell said. “It’s unanimous. Owls Detective Agency on the job…We’ll win the tourney and save Miss Delaney.”
We spent most of the rest of the afternoon planning our strategy. It was fun. Like war games when we were little kids. Or cops and robbers. And the fact that it was real and not a game made it more fun. When we got through and left the Village Shop, Nick and I dropped back from the other three.
“You trying to cut me out with Joanie?” Nick said.
“She says she’s not your girlfriend,” I said.
“I say she is,” Nick said.
“Well,” I said, “she’s not my girlfriend.”
“So what is she?”
“My friend,” I answered.
“She’s a girl,” Nick said.
“I like her,” I said. “She’s smart and she’s funny and she’s nice.”
“Yeah, and she’s my girl,” Nick said. “I want you to stay away from her.”
“I don’t want to be her boyfriend,” I told him.
I wasn’t so sure of that, in fact. I’d never been anyone’s boyfriend, and I wasn’t sure what it would mean to be one.
“Well, just keep it that way,” Nick said.
“But I’ll still be her friend,” I said.
Nick nodded.
“Like I said,” he answered.
CHAPTER 17
WE knew Miss Delaney lived on the second floor of a two-family on Water Street. The plan was to hang out near her house and watch and see what we could see. The man showed up there after a few nights, but he went straight in her door and we had no way to know what was going on. When he left, he got right in his car and drove away. We had no way to follow him.
“This is no good,” Nick said the next night. “We’re not doing Miss Delaney any good standing out here. We can’t see or hear anything. And if the guy shows up, he drives off when he’s through and we can’t follow him.”
“Maybe she screams,” Russell said, “and we hear her, we can all run in.”
“And what,” Billy said, “fight the guy? He’s a man, for cripe’s sake.”
“There’s five of us,” I said.
“And what?” Nick said. “You think you’re Robin the Boy Wonder? You’ve seen the guy. You think we can fight him?”
I shrugged. It was cold. We stood around in the dark on Water Street until we had to go home. Nobody showed up.
Nobody showed up the next night, or the next, and each night was cold.
On the fifth night when nothing happened Manny said, “This is a waste of time.”
Manny said so little that when he did say something, it always sounded kind of important.
“We’re not helping anybody,” Manny said.
“And we got a game tomorrow,” Russell pointed out. “We should be getting to bed early instead of standing around in the dark, like a bunch of dorks.”
“The Edenville Dorks,” Russell said.
Everybody laughed.
“The hell with this,” Nick said. “I’m going home.”
“Me too,” Billy said.
They bega
n to drift away.
“You coming, Bobby?” Russell asked me.
“Nope.”
Russell stood still for a minute and then shook his head.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, and went after the other guys.
Standing alone in the dark on the empty street, I felt like a fool. My eyes teared a little. What a jerk, I thought. You thought it would be like the movies. Stake out the house and in two minutes the bad guys show up and the action starts. The movies didn’t show you the hero standing around in the cold hour after hour, needing to take a leak, wishing he had something to eat. Getting nowhere. Seeing nothing. Doing no good. And what about friendship? All those war movies where guys were heroically dying for each other. A little boredom. A little cold weather and the Owls flew away in the night. The hell with them. But I couldn’t say the hell with them. We had a game tomorrow. I looked at the blank ungrateful front of the two-family house where Miss Delaney lived. There were things you can’t do anything about. The thought scared me. It made me feel kind of helpless. But there it was. I turned and headed home.
CHAPTER 18
ON Saturday morning, at the high school, we played a team from Alton. The Alton team was a lot better than the guys we played before. They had a coach, and they knew how to play. But except for number 22, they couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean.
Russell was, as usual, taller than the other center, and we were able to get him the ball close to the basket. Billy was hitting his outside set shot from behind the screens we set up for him. And Manny was getting his share of the rebounds.
But number 22 was keeping them in the game. He was one of those kids who probably shaved in the seventh grade. He had muscles. He was fast. Sometimes he would shoot a layup with his left hand. He was deadly from the outside. But if you played up on him to stop the outside shot, he would drive past you and go in for the layup.
We tried double-teaming him. But they would spread the floor and he would pass the ball to the open man the minute he was double-teamed. Then we would run back to guard that guy and they’d pass back to number 22, and he was one on one again before we could get back to him.
In the middle of the second half he had eighteen points, and Alton was beating us by four, when we called a timeout.
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