Read Online The H-Bomb and the Jesus Rock by John Manderino - Free Book Online

got up and went over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. She took out her First Communion veil, all wrinkled up, and put it on in front of the dresser mirror. She smoothed it down a little. Then she stuck her hand on her hip and turned to me with a frown, eyebrows down low.
    I nodded. That was good. That was real good. So I told her to hang on and went in the closet and came back with this long red stocking cap Gram gave me for Christmas last year. I never wore it because of the way it looks, like for an elf or something, but now I put it on and stood next to Lou in front of the mirror.
    “Wait,” she said, and turned the Jesus rock around so He was facing the mirror too.
    We looked at ourselves, all three of us. Nobody smiled.

Toby
    You go under the viaduct and when you come out again it’s like a whole other town. It’s poor.
    I hate poor.
    We’re not rich, me and Mom, but my father was a big enough bigshot with Mutual of Omaha so we’re pretty well set because of him dying. But what I would like, I would like to be rich, and not just rich but filthy rich. Or anyway rich enough to have a staff. That’s my dream, to have servants—a chef, a maid, and a butler.
    Especially a butler:
    — You rang, sir?
    — Change the channel, will you?
    — As you wish.
    — And bring me some more of those Peeps, just the heads.
    — Very good, sir.
    I went trudging up and down Parnell Street looking for their crappy little wagon. I wouldn’t call the neighborhood a slum exactly but it was definitely slummy. Even the sun seemed a little weaker here, like margarine instead of butter.
    This was probably the most walking I ever did in my life. I was sweating again. I hate sweating. I wasn’t seeing any wagons or even any people around, but I felt like I was being watched, like people were peeking through their curtains wondering who’s this fatboy, what’s he doing in our scrawny neighborhood?
    Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this dog.

Lou
    I was standing there with Ralph and Jesus in front of the mirror and got this great idea. “Know what we should do for Halloween, Ralph? Go as the children of Fatima . You know? You could be the brother and I could be the...what’s the matter? What’s wrong with that?”
    He was looking at me in the mirror with his mouth to one side—Mom’s look. “This isn’t trick-or-treat,” he said. “We’re not playing dress-up here.” He gave a big sigh and went walking around the room again, in his Francisco hat. “This is serious, Lou. Serious. ”
    “Okay, o kay. ” He didn’t have to get all mad.
    Anyway, nobody would probably even know who we were. They’d open their door and say, Who are you two supposed to be?
    — The children of Fatima, who do you think?
    — The children of what?
    — Of Fatima! The children of Fatima!
    — Oh. Here’s your candy.
    — Keep your candy.

Toby
    The ugliest, hungriest-looking thing I ever saw was standing there blocking my way, growling low like he was thinking, “Mmmmm, this looks delicious.”
    I looked around. “Help,” I said, not very loud. “Somebody?”
    They were probably all watching through their curtains, smiling, nodding their bony heads.
    I told him, “I don’t even belong here, okay? I was just leaving,” and took a step backwards.
    He took a step forwards.
    I apologized. I told him I wasn’t leaving. “Why would I want to? I like you. I wish you were my dog. I’m serious.”
    He didn’t believe me, you could tell.
    I kept at it. “I would call you ‘Buster’. We’d be friends: I would throw things and you would bring them back in your mouth, that’s called ‘fetching,’ you would fetch for me.”
    He took another step, still growling.
    “Or I would fetch for you ,” I said, stepping back.
    He kept coming.
    “Jesus loves you, Buster!”
    He stopped, and cocked his head.

Ralph
    I walked around looking through the little Fatima booklet. I don’t know what I was hoping to find—I didn’t really