Edenville Owls

Chapter 40

It was March. There were still patches of snow, but it got warm sooner on the south coast than anywhere else in Massachusetts. It wasn’t being south so much; we were only about forty miles below Boston. I was told it was because of the Gulf Stream. Whatever it was, it was warm enough again to sit in the bandstand, which was where Joanie and I were sitting. Some boats had gone back in the harbor already, bobbing pleasantly at their moorings. And some little kids were catching blowfish at the end of the wharf.

“When does the tournament start?” Joanie said.

“Next week,” I said. “Runs until spring vacation week.”

“You were so much better in the last part of the game than you were at first,” Joanie said.

“I gave them a pep talk,” I said.

“A pep talk?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Like Knute Rockne.”

“Who’s Newt Rockne?” Joanie said.

I shook my head.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Thing is, I got the idea from seeing you.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” I said. “I told them about Miss Delaney.”

“Everything?”

“Yes.”

“Why on earth,” she said, “did you do that?”

“We were too tight,” I said. “Scared. I thought maybe if they saw how much less important this game was than a lot of things, we might relax. Give us something else to think about.”

“And it worked,” Joanie said.

“Something worked,” I said. “We’re going to the state tourney.”

“That’s wonderful,” Joanie said. “You’re so smart, Bobby.”

“Yes,” I said. “So are you. Let’s talk about the plan.”

“To save Miss Delaney?”

“Yeah.”

“The Owls are in?”

“All the way,” I said. “They can’t wait.”

“Miss Delaney says we shouldn’t do this, you know.”

“I know.”

“She says it might be dangerous.”

“There’s five of us,” I said.

“Six,” Joanie said.

“Oh, yeah, of course. I just... you’re a girl, you know?”

“And I can run as fast as you can,” she said.

“I know you can,” I said.

In fact, I thought she could probably run faster, but I didn’t like to admit that.

“It’s just that you don’t think about a girl doing something dangerous,” I said.

“I can help,” Joanie said. “I’m in too.”

“Okay.”

“Miss Delaney says she can’t allow us to do this,” Joanie said. “It’s dangerous and probably illegal.”

“She can’t stop us,” I said. “And we’re the only hope she’s got.”

“We could tell Mr. Welch,” Joanie said.

I shook my head.

“He may be an okay guy,” I said. “But he’s the damn school principal. She’s gonna get fired.”

Joanie nodded.

“I agree,” she said.

“So it’s us or she’s got no way out,” I said.

“I guess it’s us,” Joanie said.