Chapter 4

in tty mucued to normal. my faton, d.c., o te nig kno t attracted us so. maybe it o do ombstones tombstones , tually fairly comfortable to sit on.

e usually sat in a small plot ombstones t easy to pass ts back and fortime my friends and i decided to lea ton family, and to to find out if anytten about to sit on someones tombstone, you mig t?

it tus out t t muc torical records, t one interesting tidbit of information. on, t or not. supposedly doree as fast as any tty vivid rig, so alked about . e used to racoastal aterions exactly , but i enjoyed theless.

ell, eric and me turday niging boiled peanuts and talking about on, e“ seen mucball season of to feeam.

“it ; i said, s to play it cool.

eric playfully elboed. ty pounds.

“did you kiss ?“

“no.“

ook a long drink from kno eric never rouble buying beer, everyone in town knew how old he was.

ossing me a sidelong glance.

“i after s least kissed .“

“ell, i didnt.“

“did you even try?“

“no.“

“?“

“s t kind of girl,“ i said, and even t rue, it still sounded like i was defending her.

eric latco t like a leech.

“i t; he said.

“youre full of crap,“ i ans out of me. t id he following day.

“yea be full of crap,“ me, “but youre tten ;

i knereading on dangerous ground.

“i using o impress margaret,“ i said. “and es sely, i reckon it must ;

eric laughe back again.

“you and margaret-nos funny. . . .“

i kne dodged a major bullet, and i breation spun off in a neion. i joined in no i really listening to ead i kept tle voice inside me t made me w eric had said.

t date i could nigued out. not many dates- many people, period-ime, e didnt mean i liked talked to all since t old myself, i o talk to o o bring o cecils diner for a basket of i didnt to do any of t. in my mind, id already served my penance.

t day, sunday, i ion to unc. in addition to transcripts from my ion, type. if you could meet one person in ory, influence in your life and able-our engliseacold us o expect-and id already ions in class as homework.

englis subject. id never received anyt started scion process ing. if it rouble, especially if it included tions t talked about trains leaving an , traveling in opposite directions at forty miles an c. it t i least a c-but it didnt come naturally to me, if you know w i mean.

anying one of my essays co run doairs to grab t i couldnt make out too sounded like angela. i immediately smiled to myself. even to clean it up, sually pretty fun to be around most of time. and least for t o to get togething.

“landon?“

“o; i said, playing it cool, “;

t pause on ther end.

“;

it i suddenly realized i speaking to angela. instead it dropped t say t i he church records.

“landon?“

“im fine,“ i finally blurted out, still in shock.

“are you busy?“ she asked.

“sort of.“

“o;srailing off. she paused again.

“; i asked.

it took o get t.

“ell . . . i just ed to kno mind coming by a little later teoon.“

“coming by?“

“yes. to my ;

“your ; i didnt even try to disguise t and on.

“t to talk to you about. i ask if it important.“

“cant you just tell me over t;

“id rat.“

“ell, im ion essays all afteoon,“ i said, trying to get out of it.

“os important, but i suppose i can talk to you monday at sc;

it, i suddenly realized t s going to let me off t alking one ried to figure out o alk at ion icularly good, t s i could do o listen to im a nice irresponsible, if i do say so myself.

of course, t didnt mean everyone else o kno it.

“no,“ i said, “today is fine. . . .“

e arranged to meet at five oclock, and t of teoon ticked by sloer torture. i left my y minutes early, so id y of time to get ted near terfront in toric part of to a feracoastal ateroracks, so it ake me about t long to get there.

it emperature beaufort t ted practically forever. it mig in t be a cold spell t lasted a for t part all you needed o make it ter. today days-mid-seventies a cloud in the sky.

i made it to jamies on time and knocked on , and a quick peek inside revealed t around. it quite ea or lemonade, and in t anyto drink. to loself in t anyone on treet. time i didnt o move my c been moved since t time id been there.

“t; s;i kno i appreciate your taking time to do t;

“so, ant?“ i said, ing to get th as quickly as possible.

jamie, for t time since id kno bringing oget.

“i ed to ask you a favor,“ she said seriously.

“a favor?“

she nodded.

at first i t so ask me to e tioned at o use my moto bring some stuff to t needed t to go to. but it still took a fe t.

sogether again.

“id like to ask you if you mind playing tom ton in t; she said.

tom ton, like i said before, er, ts t for t important role.

“ell . . . i dont kno; i said, confused. “i t eddie jones o be tom. ts old us.“

eddie jones like carey dennison, by talked to you ic, and squinc nervous, ime. ing ic blind man if you put of a croo make tutter, too, and it took ime to say anyt all. miss garber o do it, but even t eacoo, but s ion, since no one else had come forward.

“miss garber didnt say t exactly. s eddie could ried out for it.“

“cant someone else do it instead?“

but t anyone else, and i kne. because of s requirement t only seniors perform, t year. t fifty senior boys at ty-team, and eam still in tate title, none of time to go to ty or so er-scice as ion s t.

no to do t all, and not only because id come to realize t drama about t boring class ever invented. taken jamie to couldnt bear t t id o spend every afteoon mont being seen would my friends say?

but i could tell tant to t s clear. jamie never asked anyone for a favor. i ted t no one would ever do ion made me sad.

“ about jeff bangert? do it,“ i offered.

jamie s;. o ore after scil s back on .“

“ about darren oods?“

“ week w. ;

“really? i didnt kno,“ i said, stalling, but jamie knew w i was doing.

“ive been praying about it, landon,“ sime. “id really like to be special t for me, but because of my fat it to be t production ever. i knoo o see me be t; sing s. “it errible if t;

sopped again before going on, ional as s on.

“i kno embarrassed to do t. actually, old me t s about doing it. sometimes people at sc eddie to be . but . . .“ sook a deep breat;but t . . . people ;

i nodded, my lips pressed toget i . in fact, i already er miss garber t t it ed it up made me feel terrible, almost sick to my stomach.

sraigtle in and looked at me sadly, as if so say no. i guess s know on.

“i kno c of t i dont to believe t to someone like my fates o god, o ty. and o raise me on . . . .“

jamie tued a i could see tears in time id ever seen of me ed to cry, too.

“im not asking you to do it for me,“ sly, “im really not, and if you say no, ill still pray for you. i promise. but if youd like to do someto me . . . ill you just t it?“

messed on t my feet.

“i dont o t it,“ i finally said. “ill do it.“

i really didnt have a choice, did i?