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SPAGHETTI WEEK AT THE MAJESTIC!

the battered, dispiritedover the corner of Brooklyn and Markey Avenues proclaimed

2 SERGIO LEONE CLASSIX!

A FISTFUL OFPLUS GOOD BAD & UGLY!

99 Cents ALL SHOWS

A gu cutie with rollers in her blonde hair sat in the box office listening to Led Zep on her transistor and reading one of the tabloids of which Mrs Shaas so fond To her left, in the theater&039;s re Glint Eastwood

Jake knew he should get- three o&039;clock was al at the poster behind the dirty, cracked glass Eastearing a Mexican serape A cigar was clamped in his teeth He had thrown one side of the serape back over his shoulder to free his gun His eyes were a pale, faded blue Bombar-dier&039;s eyes

It&039;s not hiht, but it&039;s almost him It&039;s the eyes, mostlythe eyes are almost the same

"You let me drop," he said to the man in the old poster, the man as not Roland "You let me die What happens this time?"

"Hey, kid," the blonde ticket-seller called, onna come in or just stand there and talk to yourself?"

"Not me," Jake said "I&039;ve already seen those two"

He gotleft on Markey Avenue

Once again he waited for the feeling of re forward to seize him, but it didn&039;t come This was just a hot, sunny street lined with sandstone-colored aparts that looked like prison cellblocks to Jake A few young woes in pairs and talking desultorily, but the street was otherwise deserted It was unseasonably hot for May - too hot to stroll

What a for? What?

Frohter It was followed by an outraged feive that back\"

Jake ju the owner of the voice must mean hi!"

Jake turned and sao boys, one at least eighteen and the other a lot younger twelve or thirteen At the sight of this second boy, Jake&039;s heart did so that felt like a loop-the-loop in his chest The lad earing green corduroys instead of madras shorts, but the yellow T-shirt was the same, and he had a battered old basketball under one arh his back was to Jake, Jake knew he had found the boy froht&039;s drea cutie from the ticket-booth The older of the two boys - who looked alh to be called a rabbed for it The newspaper-grabber - he earing denims and a black T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up - held it over his head and grinned

"Juirl, jury eyes, her cheeks flushed "Give it to ive it back! Bastard!"

"Oooo wisten to dat, Eddie!" the old kid said "Bad wang-gwidge! Naughty, naughty!" He waved the newspaper just out of the blonde tick-et-seller&039;s grasp, grinning, and Jake suddenly understood These talking hoo to the saes - and the bigger boy had gone over to the box office, pretending he had so to tell the blonde Then he had reached through the slot at the botto boy&039;s face was one that Jake had seen before; it was the face of a kid ould think it the height of hilarity to douse a cat&039;s tail with lighter fluid or feed a bread-ball with a fishhook planted in theThe sort of lad who sat in the back of the roo, dumb look of surprise on his face when someone finally complained There weren&039;t many lads like him at Piper, but there were a few Jake supposed there were a few in every school They dressed better at Piper, but the face was the sauessed that in the old days, people would have said it was the face of a boy as born to be hung

Maryanne jumped for her newspaper, which the old boy in the black pants had rolled into a tube He pulled it out of her reach just before she could grab it, then whacked her on the head with it, the way you inning to cry now - uessed Her face was now so red it was al "Keep it, then!" she yelled at him "I know you can&039;t read, but you can look at the pictures, at least!"

She began to turn away

"Give it back, why don&039;t you?" the younger boy - Jake&039;s boy - said softly

The old boy held out the newspaper tube The girl snatched it from him, and even from his place thirty feet farther down the street, Jake heard it rip "You&039;re a turd, Henry Dean!" she cried "A real turd!"

"Hey, what&039;s the big deal?" Henry sounded genuinely injured "It was just a joke Besides, it only ripped in one place - you can still read it, for Chrissake Lighten up a little, why don&039;tcha?"

And that was right, too, Jake thought Guys like this Henry always pushed even the most unfunny joke two steps too farthen looked wounded and misunderstood when someone yelled at them And it was always Wassa matter? and it was Can&039;tcha take a joke? and it was Why don&039;tcha lighten up a little?

What are you doing with him, kid? Jake wondered If you&039;re onwith a jerk like that?

But as the younger lad turned around and they started to walk down the street again, Jake knew The old boy&039;s features were heavier, and his complexion was badly pitted with acne, but otherwise the rese The two boys were brothers

22

JAKE TURNED AWAY AND began to idle up the sidewalk ahead of the two boys He reached into his breast pocket with a shaky hand, pulled out his father&039;s sunglasses, and ed to fumble them onto his face

Voices swelled behind hi up the volume on a radio

"You shouldn&039;t have ranked on her that bad, Henry It was mean"

"She loves it, Eddie" Henry&039;s voice was coet a little older, you&039;ll understand"

"She was cryin"

"Prob&039;ly got the rag on," Henry said in a philosophical tone

They were very close now Jake shrank against the side of the build-ing His head was down, his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his jeans He didn&039;t knohy it seemed so vitally important that he not be noticed, but it did Henry didn&039;t er one, isn&039;t supposed to reht I don&039;t knohy, exactly, but he&039;s not

They passed hilance, the one Henry had called Eddie walking on the outside, dribbling the basketball along the gutter

"You gotta ad "Ole Be-Bop Maryanne, jumpin for her newspaper Woof! Woof!"

Eddie looked up at his brother with an expression that wanted to be reproachful and then he gave up and dissolved into laughter Jake saw the unconditional love in that upturned face and guessed that Eddie would forgive a lot in his big brother before giving it up as a bad job

"So are we going?" Eddie asked now "You said we could After school"

"I said maybe I dunno if I wanna walk all the way over there Moet it Go upstairs and watch some tube"

They were now ten feet ahead of Jake and pulling away

"Ah, co the two boys were currently passing was a chainlink fence with an open gate in it Beyond it, Jake saas the playground of which he had dreahta version of it, any-way It wasn&039;t surrounded by trees, and there was no odd subway kiosk with diagonal slashes of yellow and black across the front, but the cracked concrete was the same So were the faded yellow foul lines

"Well ain Eddie didn&039;t, though; he was too anxious about wherever it was he wanted to go "Let&039;s shoot some hoops while I think it over"