--1--

Jackie stood quietly next in line while the lady behind the counter rang up the customer and began bagging her items. The women talked pleasantly about neighborhood matters he knew nothing about and wasn't interested in anyway, so he tuned out the words and took in their voices. They were friendly people, he thought. All the grownups were friendly but their children weren't, at least not when it came to new kids from the city. And he was the only one, he thought, looking down in a quiet sulk.

The two ladies laughed about something that happened to one of their husbands during a fishing trip. He didn't catch the story but their laughter sounded funny so he watched them and laughed quietly. The cashier looked down at him, smiling, and he smiled back and liked it when the other woman also smiled at him.

He heard a boy’s voice outside and a loud chuckle. Georgie-boy and Charlie walked past the front window, Charlie’s arms flailing as he told a story to fat George, sweaty and dull looking as always.

Jackie wondered why he disliked them so much. It seemed strange because he hardly knew either of them. Hardly knew any of his classmates except for Craig, the only friend he'd made since moving out here during the Christmas break, and even he wasn't his friend anymore. He sighed slowly and remembered how the fifth grade had begun so well back in the city and turned into such a nightmare with these stupid hicks. He remembered how he told his parents that he didn't want to move and how they moved anyway, the way they always did when he started making real friends, and now he only had enemies. It wasn't fair and when he looked at Georgie now, with his sweaty red face and stupid expression it made him think of all the things he hated out here and he wanted to shove a sharp stick in Georgie's fat stomach and watch him cry and bleed.

The customer waved to the two boys, "Oh, there's my nephew George. I swear, one of these days that boy is going to eat one too many ice cream cones and burst!"

Both ladies laughed and Jackie was sure he had a hateful expression while he watched them vanish beyond the window as the customer left and he moved up beside the cash register.

“You're the new boy.”

He looked up.

“Ronny. I saw you in here with your mother a few times. She’s a very nice lady.”

“John—Jackie, everybody calls me Jackie. We moved here during the Christmas break.”

She nodded and rang up the groceries, “Well, that isn't very new, is it?”

He laughed, “No, but really it takes like a year to get used to a place.”

“You sound like quite an authority on the subject.”

“Yeah. We moved two other times already.”

“Oh.” Her face narrowed and became suddenly serious, “Believe it or not, I've lived in this same town my entire life.”

Jackie looked down at the counter. He didn't think anyone ever lived in one place from the time they were a kid till when they got old.

“So how do you like living out in the country?”

He forced a smile, “It’s really great!”

“Yeah, I couldn't take living in a city myself.”

He nodded and thought, ‘It’s hot as hell outside and I still have to rake that stupid lawn or I won't get my allowance. Yeah, sure, living in the country is really paradise!’

“Good looking fella like you, I'll bet the girls won't leave you alone!”

He smiled and laughed, blushing involuntarily and the lady said, “No I know they won't, you've got a real nice smile. Be sure and use it often!”

"Okay.”

“Say hello to your mother for me, Claire from the grocery store.”

“I will, thanks.”

* * * * * * *

Georgie-boy and Charlie reached Craig’s house and moved quickly up the driveway. The other four were inside waiting for them, sitting on folding chairs, their baseball gloves on the cement floor, everyone dripping with sweat despite the old oversized oscillating fan running on high at the back of the room.

“About time you got here.” Richie, the tallest other than Craig, was always the first to say something and invariably it was something about one of the others falling short of the mark, even if no one knew there was a mark to fall short of.

Charlie rushed inside and unfolded another chair, “Yeah, well, it’s like a steam-bath out there. It’s too hot to play baseball anyhow.”

Georgie-boy, a little shorter than the others and chubby, came in behind him and pulled the last folding chair so it was almost, but not quite, beyond the open bay door. “That’s a big ten-four. It’s too hot for anything except swimming.”

Craig, tall and lanky, the natural athlete at school, brought a six pack of cola and a bag of potato chips that he emptied into a large bowl that had already been eaten through by himself, Richie, Tommy and Joey. “My mom says these are the last soda cans so don't gulp them down. Or go buy your own!”

They laughed.

“No she didn't say that!” It was Joey, the class clown since Kindergarten.

Georgie-boy pointed down the street, “Hey Craig, your buddy is coming!”

* * * * * *

The plastic handles cut into the palms of his hands and Jackie stopped a moment to move them up so they rested against his stomach. He wanted to hold them in a hug but when he tried to they slid down his sweat slicked T-shirt and the one with the glass bottle nearly fell to the sidewalk. Laying them on the ground, he shook his hands a moment and rubbed them gently against his blue jeans. A moment’s rest, he'd need to cross the street now because the sidewalk ended where they were repairing the cracks. It was a stupid day for them to block it off, he thought. Now he'd have to cross over and walk passed Craig’s house.

He grabbed the two plastic bags again, looked quickly to see if any cars were coming, and rushed across.

Maybe Craig would be out somewhere. Sure, that was why he saw those two walking past the store, they were Craig’s friends. They were all Craig’s friends, especially after he stuck his foot out in art class and tripped him while he was carrying those two big jars of red paint. He shook his head, it still didn't make sense, they were best friends, he thought. He smirked because really, Craig had been his only friend. A few quick steps and he heard laughter up ahead, it was Joey, the yellow haired kid he sort of liked except they didn't know each other very well. He didn't know any of them very well now that he thought about it.

* * * * * *

Georgie-boy sat sideways on the chair and watched Jackie struggling at the base of the driveway. He looked very uncomfortable, like the plastic handles of the two shopping bags were biting into his palms. He shook his head and thought, ‘I hate it when that happens!’

“Hey Jackie, gone shopping for your mom, what a good little boy.”

Richie looked up with a scowl on his face, Georgie-boy was always saying something stupid, but everyone always laughed and the way he said it, with his goofy voice, made it okay he supposed. The new kid had been looking down at the sidewalk trying hard not see them. He looked up now and smiled and nodded and said hello quickly, in a low voice as he moved even more quickly toward his house.

“Never mind hello, you been hiding or something since school let out?”

“No, been busy doing things is all.”

The words trailed off and for a moment even Richie wanted to say something friendly to him, but he didn't.

Georgie-boy stood and stretched his arms as the new kid who'd been living there since Christmas already, rushed quickly out of earshot, “Too muggy!” he said, rephrasing the earlier thought in case anyone had misunderstood the concept.

Craig, the sensible one, always had a useful suggestion, “Don't think about it.”

Joey, the one who always wanted anything that wasn't there, offered a thought, “Too bad none of us have a swimming pool, this sure would be a great day for it, huh?”

The others looked down and started thinking about a swimming pool too. There was always the town pool, but it was way out past the stagnant pond and no one felt like walking that far even on a more agreeable day. Joey thought about that and sulked, everything was always too far away in this lousy backwater town.

Georgie-boy watched as Jackie reached his house on the other side of street, went inside, and emerged a short time later from the garage, carrying a lawn rake. He started on the grass and Georgie thought he pulled the rake as though he'd been sentenced to hard labor.

“That poor Jackie-boy, now his mom’s got him raking the lawn on a hot day like this.”

“They don't have any sense,” Tommy offered and felt satisfied with himself. It seemed a smart and adult thing to say although, in truth, he had no idea whether they did or didn't but nobody seemed to notice.

-- 2 --

Richie stared at Craig and remembered how surprised he'd been that he was able to talk him into dumping the new kid. They were such buddies and out of nowhere Craig left him hanging. He was pleased about it, of course, that new kid was a troublemaker, he'd never fit it, but still, he never knew what Craig was thinking. Except he didn't like being told what to do, but that didn't matter because he could be talked into almost anything, as long as he thought it was his own idea. He looked away and felt suddenly good about things. He was the general, he thought, and Craig was a fine second in command. He smiled quietly and thought that Jackie kid ought to know that by now, but he suspected he didn't. Well, maybe he had to be taught a lesson and then he'd be okay too, part of Richie’s Merry Men, as his mother called his friends.

Craig sipped his cola, “My brother says sixth grade sucks worse than all the others combined!”

Charlie shook his head, “They always say that, it'll be the same as all the others except this time we'll be the oldest, that’s all.”

Georgie folded his arms, “Look at that little fool, he don't even know how to do it right! He’s pulling that rake like it’s wrestling with him. He looks like he’s out clamming or something.”

“You ever go clamming, I love clams, don't you?”

Richie cut Joey off with a hard expression and his most serious tone, “I don't think that sewer rat is so tough. All it is, is he’s a dirty fighter, that’s all.”

The others smirked and nodded. They were all bigger than skinny little Jackie.

“I'll fight him. I'll fight him soon as I get him by himself without his mother watching from their house. I'm gonna bust his nose real good for him!”

Craig gave Charlie a hard glance, “What'd he ever do to you that you'd want to bust his nose?”

"Bust his little nose!" A smack on his knee and the others laughed with Tommy.

Georgie-boy chimed in, “What’s so hard about catching him alone. He’s always alone!”

"Yeah, that’s cause he doesn't have any friends.” Joey enjoyed pointing that out in case the others ever forgot about it. Five of the six boys laughed while Craig looked down at a dried oil spot where his father parked the car and shook his head.

"No friends. Yeah, we sure fixed that for him, that’s a real proud thing we did."

Richie took a quick breath, "You wanna be his friend like you used to be you ought ’a go ahead, he's just down the street a little ways, go on down and help him rake or something. I'm sure he'd forget what you did to him. Hey, it’s been over a month already, any normal person would have forgot anyway but he'll always be mad at you."

Craig stood up and walked to the doorway and looked down the street to watch Jack pull his T-shirt off and wrap it around his waist. He resumed raking the dried grass in long slow sweeps and he thought he looked too small from here and