| OCR Text |
Show Ths night iaimis grew up dead end, boy. Pw let the top brass believe Im ambitious to just the degree like. been sailing under would mean Td that It they false colors when I accepted the other promotions. They moved me before, you know. And Philadelphia isn't the last stop. "They havent moved you for a long time.1 "A long time in your life. Not so long in mine. Five yean here. I admit that is longer than weve stayed in other places since you were bora. Mary Ann can remember the place before this one, but Puss is too little to remember anything but Irving here. Im supposed to be a succesul man on the way up, Jaimie. They are seasoning me by moving me around. like a ballplayer goes up through the minors. Philadelphia is Triple A ball. New York team. Do you see what I is the major-leagu-e mean?" I guess sot but . . . "I ... to stay here. Let me call your Dot you want Jaimie. This is a to E C attention something; nice house. This room of yours is a good room. You have good dothes, a good bike; summers in a good eampL I can point out that some of the advantages you most enjoy are available to you because I am the kind of man I am. I am not asking for gratitude. I am asking you to understand that this rather gypsy aspect of our life is one of the penalties that we, as a family unit, must pay for the things we enjoy. I'm going to have to leave by next Wednesday. As soon as Ive found a house youll move and well put this house on the market. "I guess you dont want to hear my side of it. tone of voice, "I would take exception to Tefl side of me boy. it, please. your The best friends I ever had the best ones tU Ill ever have are right here. I just started I know high school about two weeks ago. I ... everybody and everybody knows me. I remember how it was coming here. Youre new and the kids fit anyplace. Now I da stare at you. I didnt m go there and be a nothing. Ill be starting school late. I dont make friends easy like Mary Ann does. I I just dont want to ga Honest. I fed like Id rather (fie than go somewhere where I dont know anybody. Mom will make friends easy, she always does. Youll be the boas, so people will have to be friends with you. But where does it leave me?" EDs father unhooked the screen and snapped the cigarette butt into the night. He did not speak for a long time. "You talk about the nice things." Jaimie said suddenly, heatedly. "Theyre fine. Sura But I dont have to have them. I can sell my bike and the other stuff and give you the money. You can just forget how Ive been asking for a motor scooter for my birthday. Dad, its more important just to be here. Just to stay where I belong. What good , is it to have nice things and you go around feeling sick inside?" "It wiQ all seem different once you get there, m Jaimie." "Thats what Mom kept saying and it made me mad. She said it over and over. It wont be different at aQ. Ill wish I was back here all the time. I wkh you could leave me here somehow. Honest." "A thousand miles away from your family? I I guess so. If I wasnt certain your mother .would never stand for a thing like that, Id be tempted to make some sort of arrangement, just to prove to you how lost youd fed. Id fed finer "Lets drop that idea, Jaimie. Act fourteen, at least. Were all going to leave here. "Yes sir. I guess thats an order, dr. I guess I dont have a damn thing to qay about it, sir. "You tempt me to paddle you, boy. "Go ahead. I keep thinking of what you said when I in here About choice. It doesnt aeon came first I that you should have absolutely no choice. It right doesn't seem fair. And I am aware of the distinct possibility that, with your attitude, youll make a very poor adjustment to your new environment. You resent being thrown in with kids who have known each other since nursery school. Right? "I sure do! Theyll have their own dubs and secrets and "My boy, the dement of choice is going to enter your life. Ill make a deal with you. It is contingent on your trying as hard as you can to fit into the Philaddphia environment. You try hard. At the end of the school year you can tdl me whether or not you want to continue. If you do, fine. H you do not, I will arrange to send you away to a private school the next year. "You will be away from home, but you will be with a batch of kids just as uprooted as you will be. Your mother will put up a tremendous fight about sending you away at fifteen but I will guarantee eventual acquiescence, Jaimie. So you will her have a choice. ... "ffhut if you make it evident that you are not making a decent effort to get along with the other kids this craning year, I will withdraw the choke. Okay? "I I guess sa Can I come back to the same summer camp next summer? Yes. Have we made a deal? I guess so. Dad. I This is between us. A private matter. Now you can stop hiding in the dark feeling sorry for yoursdf. Act your age. Your mother is going to need a lot of hdp dosing the house, and I expect you to give her that hdp willingly, and in reasonOkay. ably good spirits. Do you understand? Shake hands on it. They shook hands and K his father stood up. I'll tdl your mother youre more . . . resigned to your horrid fate. Well go next door. When you next see her, it wouldnt be out of order for you to apologise for being rude. All right, Dad. Ben Durmond went back to the kitchen. Eileen looked up at him with an anxious question in her eyes. Hell be okay, honey. You didnt roar at him, did you? He grinned. I came dose a couple of times. Its tough on the kid. But hes a good kid. Hell be reasonable. we could stay I I wish sometimes here. right ... ... lffoull get a kick out of furnishing a new nest. V Ill find you something gaudy in Philly. Youll be happy as a dam trotting around measuring fra draperies and slipcovers and squinching your eyes and staring into spare Lets go join the party, party girf. About 15 minutes later Jaimie turned on the lights in his room. He glowered at himself in the mirror over his bureau. He rubbed an inquisitive thumb along the alky and infrequent hairs on the side of his jaw. You kids wouldnt know how to act, even, in a big city like Philadelphia, he muttered contemptuously. He looked toward the comer where, from wires so fine as to be almost invisible, his collection of model jet aircraft hung, moving slightly in the breeze that came through the screen. He went over and tenderly unhooked the 2 and turned it this way and that, frowning at the deadly lines of it. Suddenly it slipped in his hands that looked too big for the rest of trim, and the wing snapped off close B-5- ... to the fufdlage On the following Saturday morning Eileen Durmond looked into Jaimies room and saw him hunched over his work table. She went in and saw that he was working on one of the model airplanes he had built. What are you doing, dear? I thought you told me you were going to start packing this morning. Oh, Im just fixing this one up. It got broke. Broken, she B&id automatically. So Im fixing it up before I give the whole batch of them to Junior Robbins. To the pest? Hes all the time begging to come in and look at them. He promised hed be cartful with them. I'll take them over in a little while. Theres other stuff to give away too. She put her hand on his shoulder. Gosh, you worked so hard and did such a nice job on every one, it seems a shame. I think we could pack than so they wouldnt get broken, darling. He glanced up at her. Aw, Mom, I dont need kid stuff. The pest than any more Theyre can have them. He looked back at the model of the Youd never know it was broke. Broken. She left bis room and there was something tugging at her heart. Something in his face when he had glanced up at her. A maturity, a steadiness, a hint of the man he might become. As she started to make her bed she was praying silently. Make him the man Ben is. Give him the chance to be as strong and good and gentle. (mg mo) ... B-5- , 2. |
