Philip and the Loser (9781619501522) by John Paulits Page B

Philip.”
    Leon studied Philip, now busy scraping his
hands against the top of one of the garbage cans.
    “ Why is he playing with garbage?” Leon
wondered. “Nobody in my old school did. Does he like it? Tell him
the swings are empty.”
    “ No, I
don’t
like
playing with garbage!” Philip shouted. “I fell down, all right? I
fell down. Is that all right with you?”
    Leon gave a
yuk yuk
and began to shake himself the way he’d seen Philip
shake.
    Philip stopped cleaning himself and watched.
He turned to look at Emery, who frowned and shrugged his
shoulders.
    “ What are you doing?” Philip asked
slowly.
    Leon stopped shaking. “I thought it would
make you feel better if I helped you out. And it looks like
fun!”
    Philip flicked a green bean from his elbow
and growled, “How could your shaking make me feel better?”
    “ Well, if two people are shaking, you
won’t look so stupid. You looked kinda stupid.” Leon gave another
loud
yuk yuk.
“Ask Emery. Come on, Emery. You
shake, too. Three people shaking, everybody will think we’re
playing some kind of game.”
    Leon started shaking again. Philip felt
something soft and juicy slide down under his shirt collar along
his neck. He bent over and shook his shoulders trying to get the
juicy, slippery thing to slide the other way.
    Emery looked at the two boys dancing
wildly.
Oh, well,
he thought. He began
hopping on one leg and shaking his arms. Then he hopped on the
other leg and shook his head around.
    “ Excuse me,” came a voice. All three
boys froze. Mr. Sagsman stood staring at them, a strange look on
his face, his eyes wide, his bushy eyebrows pushed close together,
his mouth hanging open. “May I ask what you three are
doing?”
    Leon answered, “We’re playing
Garbage.
Wanna play, too?” and he began shaking
around again. Emery’s face turned bright red. Philip felt like
jumping inside one of the garbage cans and pulling the lid down on
top of him.
    “ You’re playing
Garbage?”
Mr. Sagsman asked slowly.
    “ Yeah,” said Leon, standing still.
“It’s a game. One of the players gets covered with garbage, and the
other players help him shake it off. Watch.”
    “ No, no, no,” said Mr. Sagsman. “I’ve
seen enough.” He looked at Philip. “Philip, you’re . . . what were
you . . . ? Never mind. The three of you go home. School’s been
over for twenty minutes. And you, Philip, go get yourself cleaned
up. And for heaven’s sake, don’t play around the garbage cans
again. Now, go.”
    Philip and Emery, their heads bowed in
embarrassment, headed out of the play yard. Leon took two steps and
gave himself a shake. He took another few steps and gave another
shake. After five or six wild shakes, some of them right in the
middle of the street, Emery couldn’t stand it.
    “
Leon!
If you don’t walk
right, I’m gonna . . . I’m gonna . . .”
    “
Boom!”
said Leon, waving his
arms around in front of him. He laughed and said, “Did you see me
fall over the desk today?”
    “ Leon, can you walk regular? Please,”
Emery barked. He turned to Philip. “You smell.”
    Philip ignored both of the other boys and
started running. He couldn’t get home quick enough.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Philip and Emery had planned to play
together after school. The September weather was perfect; not too
hot and not too cold. Philip had really been looking
forward to playing with Emery, but now how could he?
Parts of his clothes were soaked with garbage juice, and even
though he couldn’t see it, he knew he had all kinds of garbage junk
stuck to his back. He opened his front door quietly, hoping to get
to the bathroom hamper and stash his clothes without his mother’s
knowing. He lowered his book bag to the floor and tiptoed to the
stairs, but when he reached the third step, he looked up and saw
his mother looking down at him from the top of the stairs. Philip
stood still, hoping his mother would simply say “Hi” and keep
going. But no, down