John Fitzgerald GB 06 Return of (4 page)

Papa at the Advocate.”

“But Papa said he would only need you when he has a big printing job,” I said. “He doesn’t want anything to

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interfere with your school work when school starts Monday.”

“So what?” Tom asked as it I was dumber than Chalky. “You won’t be telling a lie if you tell them I have to start helping Papa at the Advocate.”

“I’ll tell the fellows,” I said. “But I am also going to tell them that Frankie and I are going to wait for you. I want to be with you when you try to gentle Chalky.”

“All right,” Tom said, “but mum’s the word for anything you see me do, and that goes for you too Frankie.”

Frankie shook his head. “Nope,” he said. “Eddie is com-ing over and I want to go swimming.”

“We’ll take you and Eddie swimming as soon as we get back,” Tom said. “Now, J.D., go to Smith’s vacant lot and tell the felloivs. And make sure you wait until Parley is there.”

I rode my bike toward Smith’s vacant lot. I couldn’t see anything wrong in helping Tom try to gentle the wild jackass. Parley had said he was going to have his father take Chalky back to Wild Horse Canyon and cum the jackass loose. And Parley had said anybody who could ride the jackass before his father returned’could have Chalky. Either way Parley would have to give up the jackass. What difference did it make if Chalky was turned loose or Tom won him? There sure as heck wasn’t anything dishonest in Tom’s trying to gentle Chalky.

Parley and about fifteen other kids were at Smith’s vacant lot when I arrived. I told them that Tom, Frankie, and I would be a little late and the reason why. But riding my bike back home my conscience bothered me a little. I’d told Parley and the other fellows a lie. Tom was waiting with the carrots in a paper bag when I returned,

“We’ll walk,” he said to me after telling Frankie and Eddie to wait for us.

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We took a roundabout way to get to the Benson pasture so the kids at Smith’s vacant lot couldn’t see us. We didn’t have to worry about Mrs. Benson seeing us because their big barn hid us from her backyard and home.

“You hide over there behind that tree,” Tom said, “so Chalky won’t notice you.”

I did as he told me and then peeked around the trunk of the tree. Tom walked to the north end of the pasture. He climbed through the log rail fence and walked to the center of the pasture where Chalky was standing. I saw him reach into his pocket with his right hand while he held the bunch of carrots in his left hand. Then he held a cube of sugar un-der the jackass’s mouth-Chalky’s ears stood straight up as he nibbled the sugar cube from the palm of Tom’s hand. I watched my brother feed Chalky three more cubes of sugar. Then Tom took half of the bunch of carrots and fed them to the jackass. When Chalky finished eating the carrots Tom held the other half in front of him and began walking toward the north side of the pasture fence. Again Chalky’s ears stood up straight and he began following my brother. When Tom reached the fence he put the carrots on the ground for Chalky to eat. He patted the wild jackass on the neck and Chalky didn’t seem to mind.

The next morning the whole family went down to the depot to see Sweyn off for Boylestown, Pennsylvania. Mamma didn’t start to cry until the train was pulling out.

“It is so far away,” she cried.

Papa put his arm around her shoulders. “Take comfort in knowing, dear,” he said, “that because of the Adenville Academy we will have two of our sons and our adopted son home.”

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“But next year we will only have John D. and Frankie,” Mamma said.

Thai afternoon I again went with Tom to the Benson pasture to watcli from behind the tree. This time Tom left half the carrots by the north pasture fence-He fed Chalky lumps of sugar and then half the carrots. Then he took hold of the jackass’s short mane. At first Chalky wouldn’t move. Tom kept talking to the burro and finally Chalky let my biother lead him to the pasture fence where the other half of the carrots were.

Thursday afternoon we went back to the Ben&on pasture-Again Tom left half the carrots by the fence. Then he walked to the center of the pasture. He fed Chalky some cubes of sugar. Then, while Chalky was eating the carrots, Tom climbed on the burro’s back. I watched Chalky’s ears go flat back and thought for sure he would start to buck. But lie didn’t. He turned and looked at Tom and then continued eating. When he’d finished the carrots Chalky turned his head again to look at Tom, who was patting him on the neck and talking to him. I know Chalky couldn’t understand what Tom was saying, but he must have remembered there were more carrots by the fence. He began to walk toward the north side of the pasture with Tom on his back. He found the carrots by the fence. While he was eating them Tom got oft Clialky and after patting the burro on the neck and talking to him climbed through the fence and joined me.

“Your great brain did it,” I said when we met.

“Chalky knows I’m his friend now and likes me,” Tom said, “and tomorrow morning he will be all mine,”

Later that afternoon we were sitting on the river bank at the swimming hole resting between swimming and diving

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when Danny and Parley sat down beside us.

“How is that wild jackass of yours?” Tom asked.

“As wild as ever,” Parley said. “I tried riding him again Tuesday morning but he bucked me off twice.”

“I’d like to take another crack at riding Chalky before your father gets back,” Tom said. “How about tomorrow morning?”

Parley jumped to his feet and cupped his hands to his mouth. “Hey, all you kids!” he shouted. “Come over here!”

He waited until the fellows on the river bank and those who had been swimming were crowded around him.

“You are all invited to see The Great Brain dumped on his behind tomorrow morning,” Parley said grinning- ,’He wants to try and ride Chalky again.” •*

“I’ll ride him,” Tom said. “And when I do Chalky belongs to me. That was the deal you made.”

Danny had something the matter with his left eyelid which was always half closed unless he was angry or excited. It flipped wide open as he stared at Tom.

“I’ll bet you can’t ride that wild jackass,” he said.

Right away several other kids, including Parley, wanted to bet.

Tom shook his head. “You fellows know I can’t bet any more now that I’m reformed,” he said.

“But the other bets you made were all swindles,” Parley said. “This can’t be a swindle because there is no way your great brain could talk a wild jackass into letting you ride him. And if I can’t ride Chalky I know darn well that you can’t.”

“I don’t want to bet,” Tom said.

Danny rammed a finger into Tom’s chest. “You are afraid to bet because you know you will lose,” he said.

“Wrong.” Tom said. “I don’t want to bet because I

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know I’ll win. You see, Danny, I know I can ride Chalky.”

Parley spat. “What a sneaky way to get out of betting,” he said.

“But I know I can ride Chalky,” Tom said.

“And we are betting you can’t,” Parley said—

I figured it was up to me to stop Tom from swindling the fellows and backsliding. He would probably be very angry about it, but it was something I had to do.

“Don’t bet, fellows,” I said. “Tom can ride Chalky and when he does you’ll lose your money and say you were swindled.”

Danny pointed at me. “Now he has even got John try-ing to help him weasel out of betting,” he said.

“Yeah,” Parley said. “John knows Tom can’t ride Chalky and is trying to save him.”

“But I tell you he can,” I protested.

“And we all say he can’t,” Parley said.

“Leave my brother out of this,” Tom said. “If you fellows stiil want to bet tomorrow morning bring your money with you. I’ll cover all bets.”

I.ater as I walked toward home from the swimming hole I expected Tom to really be angry, but he didn’t say anything.

“I was only trying to stop you from backsliding,” I finally said. “You know you can ride Chalky. And when you do the fellows will claim it was a swindle and not have anything to do with you.”

“I’m glad you said what you did,” Tom said to my surprise. “It will make it even easier to prove it wasn’t a swindle.”

“For my money,” I said, “it is an out and out swindle.”

“Then your money must be counterfeit,” Tom said.

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We stopped at the Academy on our way home. The building was finished. Desks for the students and for the teacher were being carried into the building. We walked over and looked inside. Men were fastening the students* desks to the floor in the big classroom with screws. Papa was right. The Academy would be all finished before it was time for school to start.

The next morning after chores Tom dug up a bunch of carrots from our garden. He washed them off under the hydrant and swung them around to dry before putting them into a paper bag.

“Now, J.D.,” he said, “I want you to help me teach those smarty pants a lesson. I’ll go to the Benson corral and tell the fellows you had to run an errand. You sneak down to the north side of the pasture and put these carrots in the same spot by the fence where I put the others.”

“No,” I said. “Maybe I can’t stop you from backsliding, but I’m not going to help you swindle the fellows.”

“Not even for a quarter?” Tom asked.

“Not even for a dollar,” I said.

“Suit yourself,” Tom said. “I’ve plenty of time to do it myself.”

I watched Tom leave knowing he was smart enough to plant the carrots without being seen by anybody. After what happened at the swimming hole the day before I knew it wouldn’t do any good to tell the fellows not to bet. I went to the Benson corral with Frankie. There were about twenty kids there when we arrived.

Parley pushed his coonskin cap to the back of his head. “Where’s Tom?” he asked. “Did he back out?”

“He’ll be along,” I said.

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Tom arrived a few minutes later. He had a notebook, a pencil, and a paper bag. He told all the kids who wanted to make bets to line up. He wrote down the name of each fellow and the amount of his bet in the notebook. Then he made everyone put the money they had bet in the paper bag, which he covered with cash from his own pocket. He looked happier than I’d ever seen him since he’d reformed. I guess just getting back into action swindling kids was making his money-loving heart beat with joy. After all bets were made Tom handed me the notebook, pencil, and paper bag containing the money.

“You hold the stakes, J.D.,” he said. “The bet is that I can’t ride Chalky. And just to make it more interesting, I’m going to ride him in the pasture where he has more room to buck if he wants. And I’ll ride him without the girth to hold on to.” He turned to Parley. “Lend me your halter.”

“Boy!” Parley exclaimed. “If I’d known you were going to try and ride Chalky without a girth I’d have bet fifty cents instead of just a quarter.”

“It isn’t too late to change your bet,” Tom said. “I ain’t got any more spending money,” Parley said. Tom looked at the other kids. “Anybody want to raise their bet?” he asked. “I’m riding Chalky without the girth.”

Four kids decided to raise their bets. After changing the bets in the notebook and putting the cash in the paper bag, we waited for Parley to get the halter from the barn-Then we all walked down to the pasture. Everybody except Tom climbed up on the top log railing of the fence. Tom opened the gate and stepped inside the pasture-1 watched Tom walk to where Chalky was standing in the center of the pasture. I knew that as he shielded the burro’s head from our view with his back he was feeding

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Chalky cubes of sugar. Then he put the halter on the jackass and climbed on Chalky’s back.

Parley was staring bug-eyed. “Why don’t he buck?” he said.

Chalky turned his head and looked at Tom. I guess he was wondering why he hadn’t been given any carrots. Then he must have remembered that every time he’d been fed sugar there were carrots by the north side pasture fence. He started to walk and then broke into a trot until he reached the spot where Tom had placed the carrots-Tom jumped off Chalky’s back. He patted the jackass on the neck. From where we were sitting it looked as if Chalky were just eating some of the pasture grass-Tom walked back across the pasture toward us. I knew he was just giving Chalky time to eat all the carrots.

All the kids except me and Frankie were staring at Tom with bulging eyeballs and open mouths. They couldn’t have looked more surprised if The Great Brain .had suddenly turned into a jackass himself.

Parley pointed at Tom. “You … you … you rode him and he didn’t even buck,” he stammered.

“We didn’t bet on whether or not Chalky would buck,” Tom said. “I bet I could ride him and I did, so I win all the bets made. And you said anybody who could ride the jackass could have him. And that means I now own Chalky.”

“But why didn’t he buck?” Parley asked as he and the rest of us kids jumped down from the fence.

“There is more than one way to gentle a jackass,” Tom said, “when you have a great brain. I’ll borrow your halter to take Chalky home with me and return it later.”

Danny jumped in front of Tom. “No you won’t,” he said, “not until you give us our money back. You swindled

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us. You’ve been sneaking over here doing something to Chalky so he would let you ride him. You knew you could ride him when you bet.”

“I told you all that I knew I could ride Chalky,” Tom said.

“Yeah,” Danny said, “but you’ve lied to us so many times to swindle us that you knew darn well we wouldn’t believe you and that makes it a swindle.” He turned and looked around at the other fellows. “I say Tom swindled us and if he doesn’t give us our money back we won’t have anything to do with him. All those in favor hold up their right hands.”

Every kid who had made a bet held up his right hand. Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I felt sorry for Tom because he was my brother, but he knew what the penalty would be if he was caught backsliding. I knew it would break his money-loving heart to give back the two dollars and eighty cents he had won. But that was better than not having any of the fellows speak to him or play with him.