Read Online The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton - Free Book Online Page A

boy. “Before we move, tell me what’s happened.”
    â€œNothing’s happened,” the older boy said.
    â€œNobody’s come in to sleep or anything, on the upper floors?”
    â€œNothing,” the boy said.
    â€œPlease, Tomorrow Billy …” It was the younger boy talking against Buddy’s chest. “… turn on a light … please.”
    â€œNot yet,” Buddy said quietly. “The first thing you must remember is not to hurry with anything. And next, you got to stop being afraid. I know,” Buddy said, “it’s hard to be cool in the deep dark. But if you remember not to hurry, you’ll have time to beat the fear. Now,” he said, “just listen.”
    They listened. The older boy was able to separate the outdoor sounds from their own breathing. His pulse still beat too loudly in his ears so that he could hear little else. Also, he was tired, having had to coax the smaller boy down that rope ladder for half an hour.
    The younger, smaller boy could hear only his own ragged breath. He could smell the damp and musty black of the basement but he was not even aware of sound outside.
    Buddy heard everything. He captured the sounds of outside and held them in his memory. If they changed at all, if footsteps were added, if any part of the traffic flow at the corner slowed or turned into the street, he knew it.
    Buddy could distinguish sound. But he had not known sound at all when he was the size of the younger boy whom he held onto now. When he was that age, about nine, he had stumbled upon a vacant building all boarded up. And climbing to the top floor of the building to escape the people from the Children’s Shelter, Buddy had come upon that unbelievable world of homeless children. There had been six or seven young boys and one bigger boy in that boarded-up tenement. When Buddy came upon them, none of them had moved. The bigger boy had been sitting on his haunches, his every muscle ready for battle if a fight were needed.
    They all had looked at Buddy. It had been the bigger boy who motioned him to come forward, who had given him a bowl of soup to eat.
    â€œThis is the planet of Tomorrow Billy,” the bigger boy had told Buddy. “If you want to live on it, you can.”
    Buddy remembered he had feared the bigger boy at first, even when he had decided to stay. He had been afraid they were crazy addicts, or that the big boy forced the others to steal for him.
    The bigger boy had told Buddy, “If you stay with us, you’ll do as I say to do. There’re no parents here. We are together only to survive. Each one of us must live, not for the other,” the boy had said. “The highest law is to learn to live for yourself. I’m the one to teach you how to do that and I’ll take care of you just as long as you need me to. I’m Tomorrow Billy.”
    In the dark of the basement, remembering that time, Buddy smiled to himself. He scooted along the floor, moving the two boys with him until he reached the wall in front of the mountain of debris. There Buddy released them. They moved quietly until they were sitting with their backs against the basement wall.
    There was a low table next to the two boys. Buddy found the one patio candle on it and lit it. The weak light seemed suddenly bright to the boys’ unaccustomed eyes. Buddy sat on his knees with his palms flat on the table top, staring into the candlelight.
    How many Tomorrow Billys had there been, and for how long? It had taken Buddy three years to learn all that the bigger boy on his planet could teach him. Each night, the boy came to where the group lived high up in the tenement. When he had taught them and fed them and furnished them what clothing they needed, he would prepare to leave them again. Always they’d ask him, “Tomorrow, Billy? Will we see you again tomorrow night?” The boy had always answered yes. But one time, after about three years,