Chapter 4

“Tell me what you saw,” Miss Delaney said.

“I didn’t see nothing,” Billy said.

“Bobby?” Miss Delaney said to me.

“You had an argument with a guy,” I said.

“Was it you who yelled?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” Miss Delaney said.

I nodded.

“Did you tell anybody what you saw?” Miss Delaney said.

Billy shook his head.

“We won’t tell nobody,” Billy said.

“Bobby?” Miss Delaney said.

“Mum’s the word,” I said.

“Good. It’s nothing, but it would be kind of embarrassing, I guess, if this got talked about.”

I felt uneasy. It was very strange to talk this way with Miss Delaney.

“Do you need any help?” I said.

“No, Bobby. That’s very sweet. But it’s just someone I used to know and we had a little argument.”

I didn’t like it. I wanted to know more. But I didn’t know how to ask.

“And you’re gonna be okay?” I said.

“Yes. As long as we keep it a secret,” Miss Delaney said, “I’ll be fine.”

We were all quiet for a moment, and then Miss Delaney leaned over and kissed Billy on the cheek and then me.

“Our secret,” she said, and got in her car and drove away down Church Street.

“You smell her?” Billy said. “She was wearing some kind of perfume. You smell how she smelled?”

“She smelled good,” I said.

“What’d she kiss us for?” Billy said

A gray Ford Tudor came around the corner from North Street and went down Church Street in the same direction as Miss Delaney. Billy and I watched it go until it was out of sight.

“You think that was him?” Billy said.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“You think she was telling us the truth?” Billy said.

“Not all of it,” I said.

“Why do you think it’s a secret?”

“I don’t know.”

“You think he was some kind of old boyfriend?” Billy said.

It was kind of exciting to think about Miss Delaney having a boyfriend. I didn’t exactly like it. But I didn’t not like it either.

“I don’t know, Billy. I don’t know who he was or what was going on except he grabbed her and she slapped him, and I yelled and she got away from him and came in the school.”

“And he didn’t follow her in?”

“No.”

“Was Mr. Welch here?” Billy said.

“He usually is,” I said.

Mr. Welch was the principal. The only man except the janitor in the school. He was a pretty big guy, and once when an older guy we were all scared of, Anthony Pimentel, had come in the school, Mr. Welch had taken him by the back of his collar, bum-rushed him down the stairs, and thrown him out the front door. None of us ever admitted it, but we were impressed as hell.

“You gonna tell anyone?” Billy said.

“We said we wouldn’t.”

“But maybe we should tell Mr. Welch,” Billy said.

“We said we wouldn’t.”

Billy nodded.

“I don’t want to get into trouble,” Billy said.

“You keep your mouth shut,” I said. “You almost never get into trouble.”

“Yeah. Okay,” Billy said. “Loose lips sink ships.”

“I think we should keep an eye on her, though.”

“An eye?” Billy said.

“Yeah, just stay ready, see what happens. Be alert, you know?”

“If we told the other guys, they could keep an eye on her too,” Billy said.

“Not yet,” I said. “We need help, we tell them. For now we just, like, stay alert.”

“So what do you think’s going on?” Billy said.

“I don’t know yet,” I said.

“Yet?”

I was quiet for a moment. Up behind us, the flag was still snapping in the breeze.

“I’ll figure it out,” I said.

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