Free Johnny Long Legs by Matt Christopher

1
    C ome on, Johnny,” said Toby, brown-haired, a head shorter and on the stocky side. “Let's get the toboggan.”
    Johnny Reese pushed aside the thoughts of the home he and Mom had left in New York City and followed his new, younger brother
     to the garage where a long, pale blue toboggan was hung on the wall. The boys lifted it off the hook and set it on the floor.
    Man,
though Johnny.
A toboggan. A sled. An aquarium in the living room. What is itthat this stepbrother of mine doesn't have? Back in the city I had nothing.
    “You'd be a good man on our basketball team, Johnny,” observed Toby, smiling. “We need a guy with long legs.”
    Johnny grinned and pulled his hat down over his ears. The early December air was nippy. “You play basketball in this small
     town?”
    “What do you mean?” snapped Toby. “Sure we do. We have a Junior Basketball League and play twice a week. We've already played
     two games.”
    A league? Man! He had never played in a league game. Just scrub.
    The boys pulled the toboggan across the snow-packed road to the hill, climbed all the way to the top of it, and then rode
     down, Johnny sitting behind Toby. The wind lashed against their faces, the sound of the runners sang in their ears.
    The field was long. The boys coasted nearly to the edge of it, close to the fence, and then started to pull the toboggan back
     up again. One hundred feet away two guys were cruising along briskly on a snowmobile.
    “Am I glad my dad and your mom got married,” said Toby. “I was getting tired of Grandpa's cooking. Potatoes, hamburg, and
     hot dogs. You get tired of that after a while.”
    “I suppose,” said Johnny, thoughtfully.
    He had lost his dad in a car accident and Toby's mother had died from an illness. Later Johnny's mother and Toby's father
     had met at an education convention in New York City and had written each other ever since.
    Then along came the letter from Toby's father asking Mom to marry him. It seemed to be the happiest moment in Mom's life.
     Johnny didn't know what to think of it at first. But after a long talk with Mom sheconvinced him that she really loved the guy. And she'd been pretty lonely since Johnny's dad had died. In the end, Johnny
     was glad she'd met Mr. Reese.
    “I hope you won't mind living in a small town,” Mr. Reese had written. “You can put Lansburg on two blocks in New York City
     and still have room to spare.”
    Of course she didn't mind it a single bit. And Johnny didn't think he would either.
    A thin spiral of smoke curled up from the snowy ground ahead of them. Johnny stooped, squashed the burning tip of a cigarette
     into the snow, then stood and rubbed it clean.
    “What are you going to do with that?” asked Toby curiously.
    “Smoke it,” said Johnny. “Back home us guys…” He paused and looked at Toby. “Why?”
    “Does Mom know you smoke?”
    “No. But I don't much, anyway.”
    “Better not let Dad see you,” warned Toby.
    “You going to snitch?”
    Toby didn't answer for a minute. “No,” he said then.
    Johnny unzipped a coat pocket and dropped the butt into it. “Come on,” he said. “Let's get up the hill.”
    He started school on Monday. Mom drove him there. He handed his transfer papers from Public School No. 14 to Mr. Taylor, the
     guidance counselor, who introduced him to his new homeroom teacher, Miss Abby. She was shorter than Johnny in spite of her
     high heels and wore her black hair up high.
    Miss Abby introduced him to the class, then requested one of the boys, a Jim Sain,to show Johnny to his classes after each period. She gave Johnny a card on which were listed the subjects he was going to
     take, the room numbers, and the hours.
    Jim Sain was slightly shorter than Johnny and reminded him of some of the boys at P.S. 14. His black uncombed hair hung over
     his ears. His clothes were disheveled, as if he had slept in them. His face looked waxen, as if it seldom cracked a smile.
    After the period was over, a finger