Page 15 (1/2)

1

FOR THREE WEEKS JOHN "Jake" Cha inside hi that ti ocean liner, working the bilge-pu to keep the ship afloat until the storm ended, the skies cleared, and help could arrive help from somewhere Help from anywhere On May 31st, 1977, four days before school ended for the su to coive up; time to let the storm carry him away

The straw that broke the calish Comp

John Chambers, as Jake to the three or four boys ere almost his friends (if his father had known this little factoid, he undoubt-edly would have hit the roof), was finishing his first year at The Piper School Although he was eleven and in the sixth grade, he was s hier In fact, he had soo, when he hadhis hair cut short that his mother had finally relented and allowed it With his father, of course, there had been no problerinned his hard, stainless steel grin and said, The kid wants to look like a Marine, Laurie Good for him

To his father, he was never Jake and rarely John To his father, he was usually just "the kid"

The Piper School, his father had explained to him the summer before (the Bicentennial Sus and New York Harbor filled with Tall Ships), was, quite sie The fact that Jake had been accepted there had nothing to do with money, Elmer Chambers explained alely proud of this fact, although, even at ten, Jake had suspected it ht really be a bunch of bullshit his father had turned into a fact so he could casually drop it into the conversation at lunch or over cocktails: My kid? Oh, he&039;s going to Piper Best Dae Money won&039;t buy you into that school, you know; for Piper, it&039;s brains or nothing

Jake was perfectly aware that in the fierce furnace of Elross carbon of wish and opinion was often blasted into the hard diamonds which he called facts or, in more informal circumstances, "factoids" His favorite phrase, spoken often and with rev-erence, was the fact is, and he used it every chance he got

The fact is, et anyone into The Piper School, his father had told hi that Bicentennial Su and Tall Ships, a suolden in Jake&039;s un to lose his mind and all he had to worry about hether or not he could cut the mustard at The Piper School, which sounded like a nest for newly hatched geniuses The only thing that gets you into a place like Piper is what you&039;ve got up here Elmer Chambers had reached over his desk and tapped the center of his son&039;s forehead with a hard, nicotine-stained finger Get me, kid?

Jake had nodded It wasn&039;t necessary to talk to his father, because his father treated everyone - including his wife - the way he treated his underlings at the TV nethere he was in charge of prograed master of The Kill All you had to do was listen, nod in the right places, and after a while he let you go

Good, his father said, lighting one of the eighty Caarettes he smoked each and every day We understand each other, then You&039;re going to have to work your buttsky off, but you can cut it They never would have sent us this if you couldn&039;t He picked up the letter of acceptance froe triuesture, as if the letter was an anile, an anirades Make your mother and e in your courses there&039;s a trip to Disney World in it for you That&039;s soht, kiddo?

Jake had(until the last three weeks, that was) He had, presuh they were around so little that it was hard to tell Usually there was nobody around when he came home from school except for Greta Shaw - the housekeeper - and so he ended up showing his A papers to her After that, they rated to a dark corner of his rooh the He wanted them to, but he had serious doubts

Jake didn&039;t think he would be going to Disney World this suht the nuthouse was a h the double doors of The Piper School at 8:45 on theof May 31st, a terrible vision came to him He saw his father in his office at 70 Rockefeller Plaza, leaning over his desk with a Ca to one of his underlings as blue smoke wreathed his head All of New York was spread out behind and below his father, its thulass

The fact is, et anyone into Sunnyvale Sanitariuri&039;s forehead The only thing that gets you into a place like that is when so up here in the attic That&039;s what happened to the kid But he&039;s working his godda baskets in the place, they tell me And when they let him out - if they ever do - there&039;s a trip in it for him A trip to -

" - the way station," Jake muttered, then touched his forehead with a hand that wanted to tre voices which were driving him mad

You&039;re dead, Jake You were run over by a car and you&039;re dead

Don&039;t be stupid! Look - see that poster? REMEMBER THE CLASS ONE PICNIC, it says Do you think they have Class Picnics in the afterlife?

I don&039;t know But I know you were run over by a car

No!

Yes It happened on May 9th, at 8:25 AM You died less than a minute later

No! No! No!

"John?"

He looked around, badly startled Mr Bissette, his French teacher, was standing there, looking a little concerned Behind hi into the Co asse at all Presumably these other students, like Jake himself, had been told by their parents how lucky they were to be attending Piper, where h tuition was 22,000 a year), only your brains Presumably rades were good enough Presuo along in some cases Presumably -

"John, are you okay?" Mr Bissette asked

"Sure," Jake said "Fine I overslept a little this uess"

Mr Bissette&039;s face relaxed and he smiled "Happens to the best of us"

Not to my dad The master of The Kill never oversleeps