Ricky returned, followed by Larry, Mo, and a little brown and gray dog that Mo had on a leash.
It wasn’t much bigger than a puppy, with one ear up and the other down.
“Oh, how cute!” exclaimed Tori.
Larry and Mo stared at her for a second, then looked quizzically at David.
He shrugged.
Larry pointed at the dog with his thumb, smiled, and said, “Killer.”
“I got him at the pound,” said Mo, kneeling down to pet her dog. “I wanted to get a big, mean dog, but”—she rubbed Killer’s head—“if nobody took him they would have executed him.”
Killer licked her face.
“Would you like some chamomile tea?” Tori offered.
“Barf,” said Mo.
Tori laughed.
“No, it’s really good,” said Ricky.
“So, uh,” said Larry, “we’ll go with you to fight Roger. If you still want. I mean, if you’re going to get beat up, I might as well get beat up too.” He smiled and adjusted his blue sunglasses. “What are best friends for?”
David smiled. “Thanks, buddy,” he said. “Thanks, Mo.”
“I’m not just doing it for you,” said Mo. “I’m doing it for me, too. I’m sick of those”—she looked at Ricky—“aardvarks.”
“You’re going to fight Roger Delbrook?” asked Tori.
“If I have to,” said David. “He has the cane.”
“I’m going too,” she declared.
“Me too!” exclaimed Ricky.
David looked at his brother. “I don’t—”
“Glen’ll be there,” said Ricky. “I want another shot at Glen Delbrook!”
31
THEY FINISHED their tea, everybody who had to went to the bathroom, and at a quarter to twelve they headed for Roger Delbrook’s house.
Ricky and Tori held hands. David was glad that Ricky liked Tori, although he would have liked to have been the one holding her hand. After all, he was the one who was about to get his face broken.
“Wait,” said Mo.
Everyone stopped while Killer did some business in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Okay,” said Mo.
“You should clean that up,” said David.
“Why?”
“Someone might step in it.”
“So?”
David stared at her. He didn’t know why he was getting into this now.
“You clean it up,” said Mo.
“I’ll clean it up,” said Tori. Using a stick, she pushed Killer’s droppings off the sidewalk and into the bushes.
David felt foolish. “I guess we’re just a little tense,” he said.
“Yeah,” said Mo. “Hey,” she said, trying to sound upbeat, “we got nothing to worry about. Roger’s the one who should be worrying!”
“Yeah!” Larry joined in, trying to sound enthusiastic.
“And Glen!” said Ricky.
“They’re probably peeing in their pants right now!” said Mo.
Ricky laughed.
They continued on to the Delbrooks’ house. Tori held Ricky’s hand again. “It’s the house at the end of this street,” Ricky said when they got to Commonwealth Circle, letting everyone know that he knew the way; that he wasn’t just tagging along.
They walked to the end of the cul-de-sac.
“Wait here,” said David. He walked alone to the front door.
The house seemed quiet and dark, as if no one was home. Maybe Roger’s afraid of me, he thought. Yeah, right.
He was about to ring the bell, then he stopped and pounded loudly on the door with his fist.
He waited.
“Sorry, we don’t want any,” said Roger, opening the door. His friends laughed.
“Hey, Curly, zip your fly!” said Ginger.
They were all there: Randy, Scott, Alvin, Leslie, Ginger, and Glen.
“I’ve come for the cane,” said David, trying to keep his voice from quivering.
“Well, you’re not getting the cane,” said Roger in a whiny, mocking voice.
His friends laughed.
“Do yourself a favor, Ballinger,” said Scott. “Go home.”
David glared at his former best friend. “This has nothing to do with you, Scotty,” he said. “So just keep your kiss-ass nose out of it.”
Scott reddened. He started to reply, but seemed to gag on his words. He laughed scornfully.
“Is this what you want?” asked Leslie, holding up the cane with the two heads and four green eyes. She handed it to Roger.
“I’ll fight you for it,” David challenged Roger. “Winner gets the cane.”
Roger laughed. “Why should I fight for it?” he asked. “I already have it.”
His friends laughed again.
David didn’t know what to do. He had worried about a lot of things throughout his sleepless night, but it never occurred to him that Roger just wouldn’t fight him. “You chicken?” he challenged.
Roger laughed. “That’s me,” he said, smiling.
David flipped him off.
The smile left Roger’s face. “Don’t do that,” he warned.
David kept his middle finger pointed at Roger as he stepped back off the front stoop.
Roger handed the cane to Randy. “You better take it back,” he said, stepping outside.
Take it back? David wondered. How would he do that—keep his middle finger down and raise the other four?
“What are you smiling at?” demanded Roger.
He hadn’t realized he was smiling, but now he smiled even wider, keeping his finger pointed right at Roger’s nose.
“Look, he brought his gang,” Alvin said, laughing as he followed Roger outside.
“Some gang,” said Roger. “Three big stooges, one little stooge, and—” He stopped and looked at Randy.
Randy reddened.
David kept his finger raised as he glanced at Tori.
Roger’s fist banged into his ear. He stumbled backward but didn’t fall. A second punch hit him in the side of the neck.
He held his arms in front of his face for protection as he tried to get his balance so he could fight back. Roger’s fist smashed through his arms into his nose.
David swung weakly back at Roger. He heard Mo cheering, “C’mon, David, get ’m!” as Roger slugged him in the stomach.
Roger grabbed David’s shirt collar with his left hand and hit him in the face again and again with the front and back of his right fist. David felt like a rag doll, unable to protect himself or fight back. At last his shirt collar ripped off in Roger’s hand, and he fell dizzily to the ground.
As he looked up at Roger he realized something he wished he had realized a lot sooner. He didn’t know how to fight. He didn’t know how to defend himself or even throw a punch.…
RICKY FLUNG himself at Glen, and the two boys fell to the ground. They rolled around on the grass, grabbing and clawing at each other.…
“HEY, MO, is that your sister?” asked Alvin, pointing at Killer.
Mo pushed him. “You afraid to fight a girl?” she challenged.
“No,” said Alvin. He slammed his open hand into her nose and mouth.
She fell to the ground. Alvin brought his leg back, like he was about to kick her, but stopped. “Aw, she’s crying,” he said.
Larry took off his blue sunglasses.…
DAVID REALIZED something else, too. He could stand the pain. Sure, it hurt, but not that much. He pulled himself to his feet and charged wildly at Roger.…
RICKY HAD Glen in a headlock and kept tightening his grip as Glen helplessly kicked his legs.…
SCOTT HAD one arm around Ginger and the other around Leslie. Tori slowly walked toward them.…
“YEEE-AHHH!” shouted Larry, jumping in front of Alvin. He tried to remember everything he learned in his kung fu class in Indianapolis. His hands were like steel plates, but his arms and legs were fluid like water. He was in tune with his center of balance.
“What are you supposed t
o be?” asked Alvin.
Larry kicked him in the stomach.…
GLEN TWISTED out of the headlock, jammed his elbow into Ricky’s side, and climbed on top of him. Ricky kept a hand on Glen’s face, trying to push him back. Glen punched him in the eye, but it was with his left hand and not very hard.…
TORI PUSHED her way past Scott and continued on toward Randy, who was sitting on the front stoop holding the cane in his lap. She sat down next to him.…
DAVID DUCKED under Roger’s flying fist and charged into him. They both fell to the ground. David quickly lunged on top of him and punched Roger as hard as he could in the side of his face. Roger winced with pain.…
KILLER SAT in Mo’s lap, licking the tears off her face.
Larry tried to kick Alvin again, but this time Alvin caught Larry’s foot in midair. Larry had the wind knocked out of him as he fell hard on his back. Alvin dragged him across the yard.…
ROGER PUSHED David off of him and punched him in his already bloody nose. He grabbed David’s curly hair, pulled him into the bushes, and ground his face into the dirt.…
TORI AND RANDY stared into each other’s eyes. Randy shrugged his shoulders.…
ALVIN DRAGGED Larry right through the middle of a bush, then dropped him in the dirt next to where David was lying.…
RICKY HAD Glen pinned down. “You give up?”
“No,” Glen groaned.
“You give up?” Ricky asked again, pushing Glen’s chin back, stretching his neck.
“No!” Glen gasped.
Roger kicked Ricky in the side of the head.
The next thing Ricky knew, he was lying on the ground next to Glen.
“You better leave my brother alone,” Roger warned, standing over him.…
LARRY COUGHED.
David lay with his head in the dirt. He wasn’t ready to lift it yet. He just needed to lie there. He closed his eyes.
“Oh, I think I’m going to throw up,” Larry moaned. He coughed again.
David’s head ached as he pulled himself up to his knees. He spat some dirt out of his mouth.
Larry pulled himself up too. They stumbled across the yard. David wiped his face on his sleeve, then looked at the blood and dirt on his shirt.
Mo handed Larry his blue sunglasses. “You were wonderful!” she said, beaming.
Tori walked up behind them and slipped her arm through David’s. “Shall we take our leave, Mr. Ballinger?” she asked. She was holding the snake-head cane.…
RICKY AND GLEN sat next to each other on the ground.
“You had me,” Glen admitted. “Until my brother went and kicked you. I can’t believe he’d do that.”
Ricky shrugged. His head still throbbed.
“Your brother’s girlfriend is pretty,” said Glen.
Ricky nodded.
“Your brother’s okay, too,” Glen added.
“He’s the best!” said Ricky.…
ROGER SHOOK his head as he looked down at Randy, who was still sitting on the front stoop. “Why the hell did you give her the cane?” he demanded.
“She doesn’t even like you,” said Leslie. “She likes David.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” said Randy.…
“WE SHOWED them!” declared Larry behind his blue sunglasses as they headed away from the Delbrook house.
“You better believe it!” echoed Mo. “That’s the last time anyone messes with us.”
“Did you see my kung fu?” asked Larry. “I learned that in Japan. Would you believe I only had one lesson? Man, if I just had a couple more lessons! But still, my first kick—whap!—right in his gut. Alvin now knows what it’s like to feel the foot of Larry Clarksdale!”
“That’s right!” said Mo.
“You stood up to him too, Mo,” said Larry, “until he sucker-punched you.”
“I may have been down,” Mo said, “but I wasn’t out.”
“You just had to watch Killer,” said Ricky.
Mo smiled at Ricky. “Right,” she said. “I like the way you handled Glen.”
“I did all right,” said Ricky. “And he knows it. I mean, Glen’s not really a bad guy. He’s just got a rotten brother.”
“Well, I have to admit Roger probably got the better of me,” said David, limping on the cane. “But I got in one good punch, and he’s going to remember that for a long, long time.”
“Better believe it,” said Larry.
“No one picks on my brother and gets away with it!” Ricky said triumphantly.
“Or mine,” said David.
“We went after the cane,” said Larry, “and we got it!”
David raised the cane into the air and they all cheered.
“Couldn’t have done it without Tori,” said Mo. “She just walked right up to Randy and took the cane from him. He never knew what hit him.”
Tori smiled. She karate-chopped the air in front of her. “Broke his heart right in two,” she said with just a trace of sadness in her voice.
32
TORI’S AND David’s hands almost but not quite touched as their arms swung back and forth. David could still feel the spot on his arm where Tori touched him and said, “Shall we take our leave, Mr. Ballinger?” That one spot of pleasure more than made up for all the spots of pain that covered the rest of him.
He looked at her walking beside him. She smiled at him.
“Hey, Larry,” said Ricky. “Do you think you might be able to teach me some kung fu?”
“Uh, I don’t know, Ricky. I mean, the whole thing about kung fu is knowing when to use it. It’s an awesome responsibility. You have to learn great self-discipline. It takes an inner strength. Do you know what I mean?”
“I think so,” said Ricky.
As David’s arm swung forward he let his hand brush against Tori’s hand. Their hands brushed again on the backswing. As her hand came by a third time he caught hold of her last two fingers.
She didn’t say a word. He didn’t look at her. He didn’t know if she was looking at him as he held her pinky and ring finger in the palm of his hand.
Her fingers wiggled a little bit. He loosened his grip and they both shifted their hands around so that he held her entire hand.
He glanced at her and then they smiled at each other. They shifted their hands again so that their fingers interlocked.
They came to the private road leading to Mrs. Bayfield’s run-down mansion. “This is her street,” announced David. The sound of his own voice surprised him.
The road was cool and dark. It was lined with tall trees that blocked out the sun.
“It’s kind of spooky,” said Mo.
“You guys don’t have to come if you”—David looked back and noticed that Larry and Mo were also holding hands—“don’t want to.”
“We’ve come this far,” said Larry. “I’m not going to turn around now.”
“Is she some kind of witch?” asked Ricky. He was holding Killer’s leash.
“She put a curse on me,” said David. “That’s why I’ve been acting like such a stooge lately. It wasn’t really me. It was the curse. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
“I believe you,” said Ricky. “I guess she put a curse on them, too,” he said, gesturing toward Larry and Mo.
“No, we’re just naturally weird,” said Mo.
“That’s why I had to get the cane,” David continued. “It belongs to Felicia Bayfield. She said she’d remove the curse if I brought it back to her.”
“So then what’s the problem?” asked Ricky. “All you have to do is give her the cane.”
“It’s not that easy,” said Tori. “She’s a wicked, evil witch, with all kinds of strange and mystical powers. She might put an evil spell on all of us!” She squeezed David’s hand.
“I want to see her!” said Ricky.
David let go of Tori’s hand and wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Tori took hold of his hand again.
They slowly approached the rusty iron gate. David pushed it open with the cane. He and Tori walked through first, followed by Larry and Mo, then Ricky and Killer. Killer stopped and peed in the yard.
“That’s the window we broke,” David said quietly.
“It looks as good as new,” Mo whispered.
“Someone must have fixed it,” said Larry.
“Maybe,” whispered Tori. “Maybe not.”
“What do you mean?” asked Ricky.
“Maybe when David broke your window, her window suddenly became fixed.”
“I just got a chill down my spine,” said Larry.
They stepped up the wooden stairs. “That’s the rocking chair,” said David. They slowly approached the door. He let go of Tori’s hand.
“You have to knock,” said Tori. “The doorbell’s broken.”
David opened the screen door, then turned and looked quizzically at her.
“I mean it looks broken,” she said. She shrugged. “You can try it if you want.”
“No, it’s broken,” said David. He raised the shrunken-head door knocker and hit it three times against the hardwood door. Then he stepped back and slowly closed the screen door so it wouldn’t bang shut.
Tori gripped David’s arm with both her hands.
“What if she’s dead?” whispered Mo. “What if she died before she can remove the curse?”
“Maybe the curse died with her,” said Ricky.
“No, it doesn’t work that way,” Larry explained. “If somebody puts a curse on you, then dies, there’s no way to remove the curse. And if you have children, they’ll be cursed too.”
There was a clicking sound behind the door, then it opened a few inches. Mrs. Bayfield peered out.
“I brought back the cane,” said David, holding it up for her to see.
“So you did. So you did!”
The door closed. Then the safety chain was released and the door opened wide.
Tori dropped to her knees. “Please don’t hurt me,” she begged. “I know you have great powers, but David Ballinger brought back the cane like he said he would, so you’ll remove the curse you put on him. I just came along with David Ballinger.”
Mrs. Bayfield’s green eyes darted from Tori to David to Tori, then back to David. “And who, Mr. Ballinger, are these other rapscallions you brought?”