Read Online Boy21 by Matthew Quick - Free Book Online Page B

snow falls past my ears and lands all around her head.
    “It is.”
    “Let’s sit on the roof and watch it fall all night.”
    “Okay.”
    We see two headlights approaching, which seems weird because most people around here are afraid to drive in the snow.
    We stand, and I recognize the Ford truck as Coach’s.
    “Why is Coach here?” Erin asks.
    “Dunno.”
    Coach pulls up slowly, rolls down his window, and says, “Finley, take a ride around the block with me?”
    I look at Erin and shrug.
    “I’ll go hit Pop with a snowball,” Erin says. She actually picks one up from her pile and then jogs to my home. I wonder if she’ll really throw it at the old man, which she could get away with, because Pop loves Erin as much as I do.
    I get into the truck and the heat streaming from the vents burns my fingers when I try to warm my hands.
    Coach doesn’t drive around the block. He says, “How’s Russ doing?”
    “Fine.”
    “Have you talked to him about playing basketball?”
    “Yep,” I lie. Ever since his birthday he’s been extra quiet, and I get the sense that he doesn’t really want to talk about basketball or anything else, so I let him be. But Coach doesn’t want to hear that.
    “What does he say?”
    “Nothing really.”
    “Nothing?”
    “No.”
    “What does he say about basketball?”
    “I don’t think he wants to play basketball.”
    “Russ said that, or you
think
it?”
    “He’s not really stable.”
    “Are you a psychiatrist now, Finley?”
    Coach has never talked to me like this before. There’s sarcasm in his voice and I can tell he’s annoyed with me, which makes me angry, because I have walked to school with Boy21 every day, eaten every school lunch with him, and allowed him to be my shadow for more than two months now. And tonight I was having a nice private moment with Erin before Coach interrupted us.
    “No, sir,” I say.
    “I expect you to make sure Russ gets his physical tomorrow after school in the nurse’s office and that he shows up to the team meeting on Friday. Understood?”
    “Yeah.”
    “When you see the boy play, you’ll understand why this is so important. Trust me.”
    “Okay.”
    Coach reaches through the darkness and squeezes my shoulder. “Thank you, Finley. This is about more than basketball. More than the team. Russ likes you. You’re helping him.”
    I don’t know what to say to that, because it sure doesn’t seem like I’m helping Russ, and he really isn’t getting better, as far as I can tell.
    “Tell your family I said hello,” Coach says.
    I nod and then run through the falling snow toward the house.
    Erin’s watching the Sixers game with Dad, and Pop’s shirt is all wet, which lets me know that she really threw a snowball at the old man.
    “This is one feisty broad,” Pop says to me.
    Dad laughs. “She ran in here and blasted Pop in the chest!”
    “If I had legs…”
    “Sure,” Erin says, “the old no-legs excuse.”
    There aren’t many people who could get away with talking this way to Pop, but Erin’s special to us. She’s put her time in. She’s family.
    “Come on, Finley,” Erin says.
    And then we’re on the roof again, watching Bellmont turn white—one snowflake at a time.
    “What did Coach want?” Erin asks.
    “He thinks I should encourage Russ to play basketball,” I say.
    “Cool,” Erin says as she climbs on top of me.
    By morning almost all the snow has melted, so no snow day.
    As we walk to school Erin says, “Russ, you interested in playing basketball?”
    “Don’t know,” Russ says.
    I glance at his face and he’s sucking his lips in between his teeth. He catches my eye and it’s almost like he’s asking for permission. I know I’m supposed to encourage him to play, but for some reason I don’t.
    “Physicals are after school today in the nurse’s office,” Erin says. “Best get one just in case. You can go with Finley.”
    Russ nods.
    I don’t say anything.
    We both pass our physicals later