moment, except when they’re right there, then I make up something else. But one of these days she won’t ask me, she’ll ask Pete or Sam or Tom, and then the fat will be in the fire.”
“And Gloria? What’s with her?”
“She’s still got a clutch on Peerless Percy. But Sue Robinson’s coming here from camp next week.”
“Yuch!” I struggled up and sat leaning against the headboard. “That’s bad news.” It was. Sue is Gloria’s only real competition: Red hair, green eyes, and if her figure isn’t quite as nymphy as our Gloria’s, her personality is several light-years better.
“And,” Meg went on, as though winding up for a real knockout blow, “she was the one Peerless Percy was in love with all last summer.”
Things did not look good. But somehow I didn’t care. It all seemed remote and unimportant. My mind slid back to what McLeod had told me.
“You don’t seem interested,” Meg said.
“Sure I’m interested, Meg. But I’ve got other things to think about. Besides, I’m tired. I haven’t slept much. I’d like to catch another hour’s shut-eye before I have to get up. After all,” I finished virtuously, “you may be having a vacation. I have to work.”
9I
“All right.” Meg was mad and I knew it.
“Don’t be miffed, Megsy.”
She turned. “You’re different, Chuck. You’ve changed.”
“What d’ya mean?”
“I don’t know,” Meg said slowly. “I can’t say what I mean. But you’re different. And I don’t like it.”
“Meg!”
But she was out of the room, and I was fairly sure she was crying. Well, I thought, getting back under the sheet, I’d make it up to her somehow. I knew she was kind of lonely because there weren’t too many of her age group up here this year. Our summer community is very age-oriented. The grown-ups
He was remote and full of trick and trap questions later that morning, really grilling me as to what I had learned, not just lately, but right from the beginning. By the time the three hours were over I felt limp. He must have seen this because he brought some milk and cookies into the library immediately.
92
“You’d better go out and run for half an hour after you've eaten. I’d lend you Richard if he weren’t so neurotic.” “How is he?” I asked, downing cookies at a great speed. “All right.”
“Look,” I burst out. I was determined to have my say. “About what you told me yesterday. About the accident—” I kept my eyes on the table where I was nervously turning the cookie dish around and around. “What I want to say is—well, it was a lousy thing to happen to you, and it probably wasn’t your fault.”
“You’re wrong. It most definitely was.”
“All right. So it was. What I mean is—” I wanted so badly to tell him how I felt, but I couldn’t find the words. Then a strange thing happened. Without my volition, my hand reached towards his arm and I grasped it.
He didn’t move or say anything. The good half of his face was as white as paper. Then he jerked my hand off and walked out.
CHAPTER 7
I was sore as a boil. Worse—I felt like a fool.
So. He thought I ought to reach out! What a hypocrite! Here I had been thinking he was something special in grownups, and he turned out to be like all the rest: say one thing, do another.
I was so mad I found it hard
“And Gloria? What’s with her?”
“She’s still got a clutch on Peerless Percy. But Sue Robinson’s coming here from camp next week.”
“Yuch!” I struggled up and sat leaning against the headboard. “That’s bad news.” It was. Sue is Gloria’s only real competition: Red hair, green eyes, and if her figure isn’t quite as nymphy as our Gloria’s, her personality is several light-years better.
“And,” Meg went on, as though winding up for a real knockout blow, “she was the one Peerless Percy was in love with all last summer.”
Things did not look good. But somehow I didn’t care. It all seemed remote and unimportant. My mind slid back to what McLeod had told me.
“You don’t seem interested,” Meg said.
“Sure I’m interested, Meg. But I’ve got other things to think about. Besides, I’m tired. I haven’t slept much. I’d like to catch another hour’s shut-eye before I have to get up. After all,” I finished virtuously, “you may be having a vacation. I have to work.”
9I
“All right.” Meg was mad and I knew it.
“Don’t be miffed, Megsy.”
She turned. “You’re different, Chuck. You’ve changed.”
“What d’ya mean?”
“I don’t know,” Meg said slowly. “I can’t say what I mean. But you’re different. And I don’t like it.”
“Meg!”
But she was out of the room, and I was fairly sure she was crying. Well, I thought, getting back under the sheet, I’d make it up to her somehow. I knew she was kind of lonely because there weren’t too many of her age group up here this year. Our summer community is very age-oriented. The grown-ups
He was remote and full of trick and trap questions later that morning, really grilling me as to what I had learned, not just lately, but right from the beginning. By the time the three hours were over I felt limp. He must have seen this because he brought some milk and cookies into the library immediately.
92
“You’d better go out and run for half an hour after you've eaten. I’d lend you Richard if he weren’t so neurotic.” “How is he?” I asked, downing cookies at a great speed. “All right.”
“Look,” I burst out. I was determined to have my say. “About what you told me yesterday. About the accident—” I kept my eyes on the table where I was nervously turning the cookie dish around and around. “What I want to say is—well, it was a lousy thing to happen to you, and it probably wasn’t your fault.”
“You’re wrong. It most definitely was.”
“All right. So it was. What I mean is—” I wanted so badly to tell him how I felt, but I couldn’t find the words. Then a strange thing happened. Without my volition, my hand reached towards his arm and I grasped it.
He didn’t move or say anything. The good half of his face was as white as paper. Then he jerked my hand off and walked out.
CHAPTER 7
I was sore as a boil. Worse—I felt like a fool.
So. He thought I ought to reach out! What a hypocrite! Here I had been thinking he was something special in grownups, and he turned out to be like all the rest: say one thing, do another.
I was so mad I found it hard
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