Beyond the Chocolate War

Obie regarded Ray Bannister once more. 'Great, Ray,' he said, 'simply great.' Then, carefully: 'How long did it take to learn the ball trick?' Trying to sound only casually interested.

'Not long. A few weeks. I've had time on my hands,' Ray said. 'Frankly, Obie, Trinity isn't the friendliest place on earth.' Rolling the red ball between thumb and forefinger as Obie watched fascinated. 'In fact, the school is kind of spooky. Is there something wrong with the place?'

Obie snapped out of his contemplation of the ball, wondering how much he should tell Ray Bannister about Trinity.

'Like I said, we've had a tough year,' he began. A perception formed itself in his mind: Ray Bannister and his sleight of hand, something Archie didn't know about, a secret weapon Obie might be able to employ in the future. Maybe he should level with Bannister, let him know what was really going on at Trinity. What had gone on. .

'It's like this,' Obie said. 'We had our usual chocolate sale last fall. Our biggest fund-raiser. And a kid by the name of Jerry Renault, a freshman for crissake, refused to sell any. The only kid in school who refused to participate. .'

Ray Bannister lifted both hands in a so what? gesture.

'The problem is that one rotten apple can spoil the barrel. And this kid became a kind of symbol. Other lads started to follow his lead. Everybody hates school sales to begin with. Brother Leon was ready to have a nervous breakdown. The Headmaster was in the hospital, Leon was in charge of the place. .'

'All over chocolates?'

'It was twenty thousand boxes of chocolates.'

Ray whistled.

'Right,' Obie went on. 'Leon bought them on the cheap. They were left over from Mother's Day. He bought them for a dollar a box. Which sounds okay except that means he spent twenty thousand dollars of school money — which he wasn't authorized to spend — for the chocolates. Which also means that each lad had to sell fifty boxes at two dollars to make a killing.'

Obie was reluctant to say more, had been avoiding thoughts about the chocolate sale and Jerry Renault for months, sorry he had started to tell Ray Bannister the story. But he couldn't stop now.

'Anyway. The school was in an uproar. The guys were in an uproar. And the Vigils—'

'The Vigils?' Ray asked. 'What's the Vigils?'

'Oh, boy.' Obie sighed. How do you begin to explain the Vigils? The word was seldom spoken aloud on the Trinity campus. The brothers knew the organization existed but preferred to ignore it, allowing it to function because it served a purpose: kept peace at Trinity during a time when unrest and violence were sweeping the nation's schools and colleges. How to explain all that to a newcomer, someone who didn't know of the long tradition of the Vigils?

'Well, the Vigils is, like, a secret organization at Trinity. A guy by the name of Archie Costello is the Assigner. The Vigils has officers like any club — a jock named Carter is president and I'm secretary — but the Assigner is the key officer. In fact, the Assigner, Archie Costello, is the Vigils.'

Ray turned away, puzzled. He didn't like this kind of stuff. Secret organizations. Assignors. . 'What the hell is an assigner?' he asked. And had a feeling that he really didn't want to know.

'Well, he assigns kids to certain. . duties,' Obie said, his words limping as if on crutches. 'They have to perform certain acts—'

'Like in a college fraternity? Staying all night in the woods, stuff like that? Pranks? Stunts?'

Obie nodded, knowing that Archie would be furious to hear his meticulous assignments described as fraternity pranks and stunts. But he let the description stand. He couldn't tell Ray everything about the Vigils: in fact, he had probably told him too much already.

'Anyway, Brother Leon asked the Vigils to support the chocolate sale,' Obie went on. 'The first time Leon or any other faculty member acknowledged the existence of the club. That's how the Vigils got mixed up in it. .'

'What about that kid? Jerry What's-his-name?' Ray asked.

'Renault,' Obie supplied As if he could ever forget that name or that kid. 'Renault still refused to sell the chocolates. Despite. . pressure.'

'What kind of pressure?'

'The usual,' Obie said. How to describe Archie's methods to a stranger? 'Archie Costello doesn't like physical violence. But in this case—'

'Violence was used, right?' Ray said, dismayed, head in a whirl. A couple of hours ago he hadn't known anything about Trinity, was a complete outsider. And now this kid named Obie was here in his home, telling him crazy things about the place.

Obie shrugged. 'A kind of violence. A boxing match. Between Renault and Emile Janza—'

'The animal I just met at school?' Ray asked. Mimicking Janza's tight-lipped delivery: 'Show me a card trick, kid.'

'Right,' Obie said, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

'And the Renault kid got beat up, right?' Ray asked.

'Right,' Obie said reluctantly. 'Look, the kid was hurt, but he survived. Actually, he was a tough little character. They say he went to Canada to recuperate.' Obie paused. 'Anyway, that's all over now. The chocolate sale was a success. The Headmaster retired. And Brother Leon became top man. . '

'All's well that ends well,' Ray Bannister said, wondering if Obie detected the sarcasm in his voice.

'Right,' Obie said heartily, slapping his hands against his sides. Then frowned. 'But. .'

'But what?' Ray prompted.

'The thing rocked the school,' Obie said, putting into words what he had avoided for so long. 'That night. The kids calling for blood. Renault's blood. The chocolates became more important than anything else, more important than a kid's blood. . '

I wish we had stayed in Caleb, Ray Bannister thought.

'And now,' Obie continued, 'it's as if those chocolates exploded last fall and we're walking around in the 'leftovers, the crap. See what I mean? Everybody being careful, playing it cool.'

'Like you've all got a guilty conscience?' Ray offered.

'Right,' Obie agreed. But uncomfortable now, wondering if he had said too much.

'How about that club — the Vigils? They still playing it cool?'

'Well, not exactly,' Obie said.

Which brought him to his reason for being here in Bay Bannister's house. To introduce him to the Vigils and how it worked.

Poor Jerry Renault, Obie thought suddenly.

And now poor Ray Bannister. About to learn the facts of life at Trinity High School.

In this corner, Archie Costello, five feet nine and a half inches tall, one hundred forty pounds, unchallenged champion of Trinity High School. Champion of what? Of all he surveyed — the classrooms, the corridors, the campus, his power extending even into the residence where Brother Leon and the other faculty members lived.

In that corner, the opposite corner, Brother Leon, formerly Assistant Headmaster of Trinity High School, now full-fledged Headmaster, ruler of the school, the faculty, the curriculum, the extracurricular activities, responsible for (and ruling) 387 students between the ages of thirteen and eighteen (with the exception of Richard O'Brien, who had turned nineteen on the fourth of April). Brother Leon of the pale face, the quick and sudden classroom movements in which a student was usually the loser, struck with a teacher's pointer or a piece of chalk flying across the room faster than a speeding bullet. Brother Leon. Whose eyes could flash with malice or quicken with a cold intelligence in which there wasn't an ounce of pity or mercy. Brother Leon of the swift short steps, who had gone moderately mod these days. His thinning hair threatened to cover his collar at the back. Sideburns dropped to his ear-lobes. He wore a silver chain, from which dangled a cross so fancy that you had to squint to make certain it was a cross. Brother Leon, who sometimes seemed a bit ridiculous to Archie. Which didn't deny the fact that Leon could also be dangerous.

And now, gentlemen, step to the center of the ring. .

There was no ring, of course, except in Archie's mind He often thought about Brother Leon as he strolled the grounds of Trinity and stopped at the far end of the parking lot, from which point he could inspect the rear of the brothers' residence. Leon's private study, to which students were summoned occasionally, looked out on the parking lot Archie enjoyed standing there, sensing that Leon was hidden behind the stiff white curtain drawn across the