School Days

Chapter 25

IT WAS SATURDAY. Lee Farrell had come to spend the day with Pearl. This made Pearl happy because she liked Farrell, and he would almost certainly overfeed her.

So I was back in Dowling alone, sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside Coffee Nut in the bright morning with a large cup of coffee, cream, two sugars. The girl who had worn the pink top came by and saw me and sat down with me. Her top was white today. And her short pleated skirt was tan.

"Janey, isn't it?" I said.

"Yes."

"Can I buy you some coffee?"

"Black," she said.

I went in and got some and brought it back. She lit a cigarette.

"I heard you had a fight with Animal," she said.

I nodded.

"I heard you threw him in the lake," she said.

"He fell in the lake."

"They said you, like, creamed him," she said.

I smiled.

"I won the fight," I said.

She stared at me.

"Everyone is scared of Animal," she said. "The football players, everybody."

"He's pretty scary," I said.

"He's a perv," Janey said. "They're all pervs out there at the Rocks anyway."

I nodded. She kept looking at me.

"What's the perviest thing they do?" I said.

"All the girls have to, like, have sex with Animal," she said.

"Or what?"

"Or they can't hang out."

"Do they have any other boyfriends?" I said.

"If Animal says."

"How do you know so much about this?" I said.

"One of the girls went to junior high with me. I see her sometimes."

"What's her name?"

"It's really Annette George," Janey said. "But everybody calls her George."

"Was she there when I had the fight with Animal?" I said.

"Yuh." Janey giggled. "She threw the stone at your dog."

"You suppose we could talk with her?" I said.

"You and me?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, I guess so," Janey said. "I could call her."

"Why don't you," I said.

Janey took a cell phone out of her purse and dialed. I went to get us two more coffees. I bought us some doughnuts, too. Balanced nutrition.

"She'll meet us at the mall in an hour," Janey said.

"Melwood Mall?"

"Yes."

"Not here."

"God no."

"You don't want to be seen with her," I said.

Janey shrugged.

"Or she with you," I said.

Janey nodded.

"Or me," I said.

Janey nodded more vigorously.

"Of course," I said.

We drank some coffee.

"How come you could like beat up Animal so easy?" Janey said.

"Purity of heart," I said.

"Huh?"

"My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure?"

"What are you talking about?" Janey said.

"I rarely know."

"Seriously, how come? I mean Animal is . . ." She spread her hands; words failed her in the face of Animal's prowess.

"It's what I do," I said.

"Beat people up?"

I shrugged.

"Like everything else," I said. "It helps to know how."

"And you know how?"

"I used to be a fighter," I said.

"You mean a boxer. Like whatsisname Lennox something?"

"Yeah. That kind," I said.

"Jesus," she said. "Is that why your nose is like that?"

"Thanks for noticing," I said.

"Were you ever a champion or anything?"

"No," I said.

"But you're still, like, ah, good."

"You been a fighter," I said, "and you stay in shape, you don't lose that many fights outside the ring."

"You don't seem like a mean guy," Janey said.

"I don't?"

"No. You seem kind of nice."

"Damn," I said. "I'll have to work on that."

Janey nodded. Some kids drove by in a red jeep Wrangler with the top down. They honked. She waved. She was with a celebrity. The guy who threw Animal Yang into the lake.