Read Online Raiders Night by Robert Lipsyte - Free Book Online

meetings tonight. On Raider Pride Night, your captains are in charge.”
    The assistant coaches followed him out. Ramp swaggered to the center of the mess hall. He grinned at Chris and then at Matt. The food in Matt’s stomach suddenly felt like a hard, cold lump.

TEN
    Trailed by the linemen, Ramp stomped around the mess hall, rapping a little white plastic bat on the tables and chairs he wanted them to clear away to the corners of the big room. Sheets were hung over the windows, the lights dimmed. Waving the bat, Ramp ordered the freshmen to the center of the mess hall and told them to strip to their underpants. The rest of the team crowded in a semicircle around them.
    The freshmen stood shoulder to shoulder in a line, grinning and jiggling nervously as linemen tied their hands behind their backs with cord. Ramp was following the script. When he asked Matt to read “A Letter from No. 75,” Matt relaxed. The little white bat had him worried for nothing. It was the same old same old.
    â€œDear Mom, Dad, Grandma, Sis, and Buddy,” Matt read. He almost knew the letter by heart. He avoidedlooking at Tyrell, who would be mouthing the words and trying to make him laugh. The letter was supposedly from a soldier writing home from somewhere in Europe during World War II. His platoon was resting after a firefight, and the reason they came through it was because of the discipline and unit solidarity No. 75 had learned playing Raider football. Tyrell claimed that a cousin of his in South Carolina had heard the same letter.
    I’ve got to stop now, folks—we’re saddling up. Sarge won’t tell us where we’re going. But I know that when we get there, we’ll be all right. We’re a band of brothers and we watch each other’s backs. I learned about that from my coaches at Nearmont High. I’ll be back to thank them after we win.
    Love, Mike.
    When Matt finished reading, Ramp took the paper back and read, “That letter Captain Matt just read to you is more than sixty years old. But it could have been written by a Raider fighting for his country in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Somalia, Iraq, anywhere a warrior depends on his teammates when the going gets tough.” He lowered the paper and searched the semicircle around him until he found Chris. “Anyone else here who has never beeninitiated into the Raider brotherhood?”
    In the dim light, Matt sensed more than saw the confusion on Chris’s face. What does he do now? Still say he’s not a freshman, or step forward? The kid was afraid to put himself in Ramp’s hands, but he wanted to be part of the team.
    Ramp said, “Is there anyone else here who wants to show his brothers he’s man enough to be a Raider?”
    Chris looked around until he found Matt. Chris’s eyes were wide. He’s waiting for a signal from me.
    Matt nodded. Let ’em bring it. You can take it.
    Ramp saw it all. He gave Matt a thumbs-up and nodded at Chris.
    Chris stood up and stepped forward. He stripped down to his shorts and held his hands behind his back as Boda tied them. He was grinning as he took his place with the freshmen.
    Ramp said, “All sophs and juniors out of here.”
    â€œThey didn’t send anyone out last year,” said Pete.
    Ramp locked the door after the sophs and juniors left. “Blindfolds for the rookie Raiders. It’s tea bag time.”
    â€œThought no more of that shit,” said Tyrell.
    â€œLeast it’s not swirlies,” said Brody.
    â€œWhat you gonna do, Cap’n Matt?” said Tyrell.
    â€œBe okay,” said Matt. But he wasn’t sure. “We’re here.”
    Should I do something now?
    But what?
    He felt suddenly small, the way Dad could make him feel small. Powerless.
    Just before the rags were tied around the rookies’ eyes, Ramp, Boda, and Hagen dropped their pants and underwear and cupped their genitals in their hands.
    â€œOn your