Free Danny Orlis Goes to School by Bernard Palmer Page A

quotation his dad always used? "What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." Danny had never known how true that was until now.
    He could still see big Buff Gordon standing there, his hands in his pockets, a superior, egotistical grin on his face. How could he make Buff see that taking Christ really changed a person? How could he make him know that becoming a Christian really meant something? He sat there miserably and waited for the period to end.
    When Danny came home that night for supper, there was a telephone call waiting for him.
    "It's some girl, Danny," Uncle Claude said, smiling.
    The young woodsman's face flushed.
    "She certainly did sound nice, though," Uncle Claude went on.
    "Now you hush that, Claude," Aunt Lydia scolded. "Don't pay any attention to him, Danny. You were supposed to call her back as soon as you got home."
    Blushing furiously Danny went into the other room and called the number. It was Peggy.
    "I've just got to talk to you, Danny," she said. "Could you meet me at the drugstore about eight o' clock?"
    The whole family demanded to know all about it and razzed him unmercifully at the supper table.
    The young woodsman got to the drugstore a little early, but Peggy was already there waiting for him. He saw, even before she spoke, that she had been crying.
    "I'm sorry to bother you, Danny," she said, her voice trembling, "but I just had to talk to someone."
    "That's all right," he told her. The waitress came up, and they ordered malts. "If I can help you, I'd certainly be glad."
    "It's about Eric," she said. "Ever since I became a Christian, he's been making fun of me."
    "That's something we just have to learn to live with," he said.
    "Oh, it isn't that I care about that," she said quickly. "It doesn't bother me at all to be laughed at because I've given my heart to Jesus. It's just that Eric is the one who does it."
    "I see."
    "I want him to be a Christian so badly," she said. She had picked up one of her straws and was pulling it to pieces nervously. "I've been talking to him and trying to get him to go to church with me, but it doesn't do any good. Everything I do seems to drive him farther away."
    Danny nodded. He could still remember the scowl on Eric's face that other time when they had sat in the drugstore talking about the things of Christ, and the following day at school when the older guy had cornered him and threatened him to secrecy.
    "Danny," Peggy said desperately, "I know it's asking an awful lot of you, but would you talk to him for me? Would you talk to him about Jesus?"
    Danny started to agree quickly, then stopped. How long would Eric listen to him if he knew what Danny was planning to do at Larry's trial? How long would Eric listen if he knew that even while Danny was talking to him he was planning to lie under oath to help save his cousin from the reformatory?
    "I'll see what I can do," Danny said lamely. "Eric doesn't seem to like me too well, but I'll try to talk to him."
    "Oh, thank you, Danny," she replied. The tears were hanging now on the tips of her eyelashes. "I'll be praying for you all the time and for Eric too."
    The next few days at school passed in a whirl of activity, so much that Danny scarcely had time to think about Eric or Larry either. They were taking exams again, and the young woodsman hadn't been doing too well in General Science.
    "If you don't get a good grade on this test, Danny," the instructor told him, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a mighty poor grade for the quarter."
    Steve Hanson, the "science brain" of Danny's class, came up to him that evening after school.
    "Understand you're having some trouble with General Science," he said.
    "You can say that again," Danny told him. "Since I sit across from you," Steve replied, "if you want me to, I'll take care of you tomorrow."
    "What do you mean?"
    "You wait and see." He winked at Danny significantly. "Larry's a good friend of mine. You do him a good turn, I do you a good turn.