“That’s too early,” Matthew said.
“You want to trade?” Louis said.
“What for what?”
“I’ve got cheese and relish.”
“No,” Matthew said firmly, “I’ve got cream cheese and walnut. I’m sorry, Louis, but I don’t want to trade today.”
“I don’t know how you eat that junk,” Louis said.
“I don’t know how you eat the junk you eat,” Matthew replied.
“Hey Dumbo, how’s old Elephant Ears today?” It was skinny Ernie, sliding his way down the bench to sit opposite them. “I think your ears got bigger since I saw you last.” He poked his friend with the tiny eyes.
“I think so too,” the friend said.
“Anyway,” Matthew went on as if he hadn’t heard them, “you take a Havaheart and tie it to a tree or something so it won’t float away, then you drop it in the river after you load it up with bait. Then, presto, a trout or pickerel swims inside and you’ve got him.”
“You think it’d work?” Louis asked.
“It’s worth a try,” Matthew said.
“You’re some sweet kid, Sugar Bowl,” Ernie said, unwrapping a marshmallow fluff sandwich. “How’d you get so sweet?”
Louis flexed his muscles. Maybe now was the time. One good punch right in the middle of Ernie’s mouth. He’d really spray that marshmallow fluff around.
Louis got up, shoving the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. He looked at skinny Ernie who was sitting with his mouth wide open, the marshmallow fluff sort of drooling out. His friend with the tiny eyes was turning his head from left to right, like he didn’t know whose side to be on.
Louis put on his helmet.
“I’m coming,” he said.
“The big guys want me to play football with them,” he said to John and Matthew. “I’ll see you.”
Then he turned to Ernie and his friend.
“So long, skinny Ernie and Pig Eyes. Don’t take any wooden nickels.”
Skinny Ernie closed his mouth and gulped.
“So long, Louis,” he said.
About the Author
Constance C. Greene is the author of over twenty highly successful young adult novels, including the ALA Notable Book A Girl Called Al, Al(exandra) the Great, Getting Nowhere, and Beat the Turtle Drum, which is an ALA Notable Book, an IRA-CBC Children’s Choice, and the basis for the Emmy Award–winning after-school special Very Good Friends. Greene lives in Milford, Connecticut.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1974 by Constance C. Greene
ISBN: 978-1-5040-0438-1
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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