A Wizard of Mars, New Millennium Edition Read Free Page B

that anti-stain waterproofing stuff you use on upholstery. It’s good for giving other people the impression that you’re not quite human.”
    His voice as he said this was so dry that Kit burst out laughing. But a moment later he stopped. “You were in the Marines?” Kit said, suddenly seeing Mr. Mack with entirely new eyes. This little guy, just barely taller than Kit’s mama, with his bald head and his red tie with little blue galloping ponies on it, a different tie every day —“Korea?”
    Mr. Mack shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “A lot of other places. But Korea was well before my time.”
    Kit looked at him; this time it was his turn to look thoughtful. “The way you talked about it, though. The dark, the light—”
    Mr. Mack shook his head. “If a historian needs anything,” he said, “it’s an imagination. The dates, the place names, the battles... they’re not what’s most important. What matters is thinking yourself into those people’s heads. Imagine how the world looked to them— their sky, their sea. Their tools. Their houses. Their troubles. That’s how what they did starts to make sense. Along with what we do in the same situations...”
    He paused, looking surprised at himself. “Sorry. It’s a passion,” Mr. Mack said. “But I can recognize the signs in someone else. Watch out: it’ll eat you alive. Other lives, other minds ...there’s no getting enough of them.” He gave Kit a cockeyed look. “Why are you still here? Go away before I give you a quiz.”
    Kit grinned and left with as much dignity as he could manage. The dignity broke down about three yards down the hall, as he caught sight of Raoul, trying to look like he was leaning casually against a locker, waiting for Kit. Kit didn’t know whether to try to look cool or to scream out loud. Screaming won. He pulled the paper out again, waved it in Raoul’s face.
    Raoul snatched it out of Kit’s hand. “Do you believe this, Pirate?” Kit yelled.  “Do you believe this?!”
    They started jumping up and down together like the acrobatically insane. “Ninety-nine! Ninety-nine!” Raoul promptly turned it into something like a sports chant. “Nine-ty- nine!  Nine-ty- nine!”
    People wandering down the hall that crossed this one stared at them, vaguely interested by the actions of the certifiably mad— meaning anyone who would still willingly be in the building after the end of the last period. “But what did  you  get?” Kit said as they headed toward the doors at the end of the hall.
    “Eighty,” Raoul said.
    Kit suddenly felt bizarrely disappointed. “How’d  that  happen?”
    “I messed up the essay,” Raoul said. “But I did okay on everything else. It’s not a bad grade. My mom’ll get off my case now.”
    “Mine, too,” Kit said, “I hope. But wow, what a relief. I thought I was dead!”
    “I  thought you were dead!” Raoul laughed that crazed laugh of his as they went down the hall to the paired doors that led to the parking lot. They each hit one door and burst out into the hot, humid summer air, laughing.
    “This day could not  possibly  get any better,” Kit said.
    “Oh, come on,” Raoul said, “stretch your brains. Anything could happen...”
    They saw Raoul’s mom’s slightly beat-up red station wagon come swinging in through the parking lot gates. “So listen,” Raoul said, “my dad says we’re having a big barbecue next week, for his birthday. Next Thursday. You and your folks and your sister, you’re all invited. Can you make it?”
    “I’ll find out.”
    “Okay,” Raoul said, as his own mom pulled up. “Text me later!”
    Kit nodded, waving at Raoul’s little blond mom as he got into the car. The first thing Raoul did was fish around in his pack and show his mom the test paper: she grinned, and Raoul flashed a grin of his own at Kit as his mom drove away.
    Kit let out a long breath as he glanced down at his own paper one more time, then put it away. His nerves