“Yeah, I saw the posters.”
As he and Eddie continued toward the main tent, Jack was doubly sure that
particular roustabout knew nothing. But that didn?t mean somebody else here didn?t. One of the freaks, maybe?
Instantly Weezy?s voice was in his inner ear:
Okay, right, sure. Different didn?t equal evil, but that didn?t guarantee
Maybe if you were treated badly all your life because of a twisted outside, you became twisted inside.
His imagination was running now. What if Peter the Pinnochio Boy pretended to
be a little kid—he was small enough to pass—and lured Cody into a trap and— Jack?s mind balked at going any further.
They reached the main tent, showed their passes, and found seats. After
watching the animal show—dopey—and cycle stunts—cool—they wandered back
outside.
“Where?s your dear sister?” Jack said as he watched some hapless father trying
to win a teddy bear for his little girl by throwing darts at balloons.
Why wasn?t Mr. Vivino here doing that for Sally? What was wrong with him? “With Toliver somewhere, I guess,” Eddie said.
Jack had had enough so-called fun, and was ready to head home. But they
couldn?t leave without Weezy.
“Let?s go look. You head toward the front, I?ll take the rear. We?ll meet back here
in a couple of minutes.”
As he walked along he heard, “Hi, Jack.”
He turned and recognized a girl from one of his classes.
“Hi, Karina.”
What was her last name? He?d started high school only a couple of weeks ago
and hadn?t nailed down all the new names yet.
Haddon. That was it. Karina Haddon.
She smiled. “I figured you?d be here, seeing as it?s practically in your backyard.” She had a nice smile and wore her dark blond hair short, though not as short as
his sister Kate?s. She had most of it hidden under a striped engineer?s cap now. Her brown eyes sparkled in the lights strung overhead.
He said, “You?re from Tabernacle, right?”
Tabernacle was the next town north on 206. Karina was always seated on the
school bus beside her friend Cristin by the time Jack boarded. Compared to other girls in the class, she tended to dress down—way down. Like bulky sweaters and loose
jeans. To night she wore a Bob Marley T-shirt.
She rolled her eyes. “My dad drove me and Cristin and he?s been like hanging
over us.”
“Where is she?”
She looked around. “I?m not sure …”
Just then a grinning brunette slipped through a knot of people.
“Hey, you found him,” Cristin said.
Jack saw Karina give her a shut-up look.
“Oh, uh, well, your dad?s like having a major cow because you wandered off. He
wants to find you and skate.”
Karina turned to him and said, “Gotta run. See you in school tomorrow.” She waved and hurried off with Cristin, the two of them blabbing a hundred
miles an hour.
Had Karina been looking for him?
Interesting, he thought as he resumed the search for Weezy.
He found her standing by the hammer game with two other sophomore girls.
Though only four months older, Weezy was a year ahead of Jack in school. The other two were giggling as they watched Carson Toliver swing the mallet
and try to ring the bell atop the board. His muscles bulged beneath his tight T-shirt. But he wasn?t having much luck reaching the bell. Despite pounding the pad on
the base pretty hard, he was moving the striker weight only a third or halfway up.
Weezy joined the others in calling out the labels on the levels as he reached them.
“Wimp!”
“Dork!”
“Nerd!”
Jack wondered why he felt such plea sure watching him fail. He was supposed to
be a pretty nice guy. He?d never picked on Jack—never acted any way toward Jack—but
for some reason he disliked the guy.
A word popped into his head.
No way.
Yeah, Weezy had kissed Jack on the lips last month but that hadn?t meant
anything. Little more than a peck. They weren?t like that. They were friends, nothing more.
Still … nothing more he?d like to do right now than show up Carson Toliver. As Jack watched him swing the hammer he noticed how the pad was fixed about
four inches in from the outer edge of the rocker board. With that loss of leverage, even Conan the Barbarian would have a tough time ringing the bell.
But if you just so happened to miss the pad and hit the outer edge of the board
…
He caught Weezy?s eye and jerked his thumb toward the front end of the
midway. She nodded and held up a finger:
thought Toliver was going to try again. But he threw the mallet down instead. “It?s rigged!”
Jack stared at the sign:
“I?m next!”
The carny running the game took his dollar and pointed to the mallet. As Jack
picked it up he saw Weezy standing between the two snickering sophs and giving him a what-are-you- thinking? look.
He gripped the very end of the mallet handle, rested the head on the rocker pad,
then stepped back six inches. He raised it high above his head, took a breath, and
swung with everything he had—
And missed. The mallet head smacked into the mud with a gushy
Weezy stood with her eyes closed, shaking her head.
The carny gave him a gap-tooth grin as he tapped the rocker pad. “Guess I
should a told ya. Y?hit „er here, not the ground.”
