Free Edenville Owls by Robert B. Parker Page A

good thing, because you’re a good kid who will grow up to be a good man.”
    I felt my eyes start to fill. I went and leaned on the railing of the bandstand and looked down at the harbor. I nodded my head for a while. But I couldn’t think of anything to say.
    Joanie came and patted my shoulder.
    Finally I said, “The Reverend Oswald Tupper is some kind of crazy man.”
    I told her about the youth meeting.
    “That was really brave,” Joanie said. “To go up there like that alone.”
    I nodded.
    “He talks like that,” I said. “And yet he’s got a Medal of Honor.”
    “He says.”
    “I saw it,” I said. “He was wearing it on a ribbon around his neck.”
    “If it really was one,” Joanie said.
    “You think he’s lying?”
    “My uncle John got some kind of medal too,” Joanie said. “I don’t know what. He never shows it to anyone. He never talks about it, and he never ever wears it.”
    “You think he stole it?”
    “Maybe,” Joanie said. “Or maybe he bought it from somebody who needed the money. Or maybe he won it for being a hero. I’m just saying that you don’t know yet, just because he wears it and says he won it.”
    “How are we gonna find out?” I said.
    “I’ll ask my uncle John,” Joanie said.
    “Don’t tell him about me.”
    Joanie smiled.
    “No,” she said. “We’re friends. We keep each other’s secrets.”
    “And you think I should sneak in there next time he shows up and listen in.”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know if I dare.”
    “I’ll do it with you,” Joanie said.
    “You?”
    “Me.”
    “You’d sneak into the house with me and spy on them?”
    “Yes,” she said.
    “You’d have to climb a tree,” I said.
    “I can climb a tree,” Joanie said.
    “And you’re not scared to?”
    “Not as long as we do it together,” she said.
    “Same with me,” I said.

CHAPTER 28
    WE were down by three points to the Grange Bay JVs, with ten minutes left. Grange Bay had a center almost as tall as Russell, and he was too good for Russell one on one. He was getting a lot of points. And we decided the only way to deal with him was to go straight at him. Wear him down a little. Maybe get him in foul trouble.
    I was the best dribbler on the team, so I did the most of it. He blocked my shot twice, and one of Russell’s, when I passed off to him. But he picked up two fouls in the process, and had only one left. Next time down the court, with four minutes left, we were hanging in there. Nick and Billy were hitting outside shots, and Manny was doing his usual work on the rebounds. Bringing the ball up, I faked right, dribbled left. Beat my man and ran hard into the Grange Bay center as he moved over to cut me off. Both of us went down, and as we did, I jabbed him hard in the ribs with the elbow away from the ref.
    The ref blew the whistle. The Grange Bay center got up and smacked me hard in the mouth. My upper lip started to bleed. Russell jumped in between us with his hands up and his fists clenched, and I grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back.
    “No,” I said. “No. We got no subs. We got no subs.”
    The referee stepped in and called a double foul. Me for charging, my third, the Grange Bay center for fighting. His fifth, so he was ejected. Which didn’t really matter because he had already fouled out.
    “I’ll see you after,” the Grange Bay center said. “You little creep.”
    I still had my arms around Russell’s waist.
    “You’ll see all of us after,” Russell said, “freaking sucker puncher.”
    The coach of Grange Bay came out on the court to get his center.
    “Settle down,” he said. “I’ll be around afterward, too, and if there’s any fighting, I’ll kick everybody’s little ass on my team and yours.”
    He handed me some wadded tissue.
    “Stuff that in your nose,” he said. “Then wad some up and stick it under your upper lip.”
    I did as he told me. He watched.
    “You ready to go?” he