|
|
|
|
|
|
|
They sprinted toward Denise and Tom. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And didn't notice Kara there in the shrubbery. They ran right past her. Buddy had a spear in one hand. Lou waved some kind of long fork overhead and let out a whoop. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
She couldn't move. She couldn't run off and leave Kara. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The boys dashed closer and closer. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Water suddenly shot up from the ground. Geysers of it, sprouting everywhere. Denise flinched as cold spray from a nearby nozzle seeped through her warmup suit. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kara had turned on the lawn sprinklers? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lou cried out as if he were being scalded. Buddy, laughing, leaped one of the showers. He stopped laughing when he slipped. He landed flat on his back. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tom took hold of Denise's arm. He looked at her. In the moonlight, she saw him smile and shake his head. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'It'll be all right,' she said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But Lou didn't stop and throw away his fork. He kept running toward them through the fountains of cold, clear water. And Buddy was already scurrying to his feet, lifting his spear. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why aren't they quitting? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe they haven't been washed clean enough yet. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lou, bare to the waist, looked pale under the moonlight. Buddy's hair was blond again, his face white. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But the two guys acted the same as when they'd been black. |
|
|
|
|
|