Ceremony Read Free Page A

ten years as a roofer. What the hell do I know about why she acts that way? She's a goddamned creep, like a lot of the kids in this town."
    "How about Hummer and his group-can you get me in touch with them, would they know where she went?"
    "I can put you in touch. They won't tell you shit. Hummer's the worst creep in town."
    "Bad kid?"
    Again Cataldo shrugged. "Yeah-bad in the wrong way, you know?"
    We turned down a hill and took a right. The rain came steady and cold against the windshield and rattled on the roof of the car. "When I was a kid we were bad-a lot of guys I grew up with are in the joint. But they were bad for a reason. They stole stuff because they wanted money. Or they got in fights because somebody insulted their sister or made a pass at their girl or came onto their turf, you know? These kids sneak around and break Coke machines and trash the school windows or set fire to. some guy's store-for what? Prove how tough they are. Shit. Toughest kid in this town would get his ass kicked by one of the pom-pom girls in East Boston." He shook his head. "They don't know how to act. It's like they never learned about how to act, about how a guy is supposed to act."
    We were near the south edge of town now. Across the street a gas station, a bowling alley, and a small cluster of stores. The gas station was one that sold gas only. Correct change or credit cards after 6 P.m. The bowling alley had been converted from something else. There were kids leaning against the front wall under the marquee out of the rain, collars turned up, smoking with cigarettes cupped in their hands.
    "The one with the fur collar," Cataldo said, "and the boots half laced?"
    "Yeah."
    "That's Hummer," he said.
    "Why don't you swing down back and drop me off, and I'll stroll over and talk with him."
    "He'll give you some shit," Cataldo said. "Want me along?"
    I shook my head. "My line of work," I said, "taking shit."
    Cataldo nodded. "Me too," he said.

Chapter 4

    Hummer looked about seventeen. He must have spent a half hour getting his look right before he came downtown to hang out. His pale tan Timberland boots were carefully half laced and the cuffs of the jeans were carefully caught inside the loose uppers. Despite the cold rain, his bombardier jacket was open, the fur collar up, the collar of his plaid shirt turned up inside the jacket collar. There were, three other boys and two girls with Hummer. They were all dressed with the same careful pretense of sloppiness. Suburban tough. I always figured I could take a guy wearing eighty-dollar boots and a crocodile on his sweater, but that's probably just a form of prejudice. On the other hand, I was wearing a leather trench coat with epaulets and a belt. I felt like Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent.
    I said, "You Hummer?" He looked up at me slowly, took a drag on his cupped cigarette, and said, "Who wants to know?"
    "Now there you go," I said. "You've been watching Starsky and Hutch again and stealing all their good lines."
    Hummer said, "Yeah."
    And I said, "Yeah, you're Hummer? Or yeah, you been watching Starsky and Hutch?"
    "What's it to you?"
    I looked at one of the girls-she was slim and blond and wore high-heeled black boots and tapered jeans and a down vest over a black turtleneck sweater. She had a plaid umbrella folded up, and she leaned on it like a cane. "This is slow going, isn't it?" I said.
    She shrugged and said, "Maybe."
    Two of the boys looked at each other and snickered. I never cared much for being snickered at. I took a slow breath. "I'm trying to locate April Kyle-man any of you help me on that?"
    "April May," the girl with the umbrella said.
    "April will," one of the snickerers said, and they all laughed without letting it really out.
    "Whyn't you get lost, man?" Hummer said. "We ain't got nothing to say about April."
    "Hummer," I said, "just because you haven't had your growth spurt yet doesn't mean you're too little to hit."
    "You hit me, and my old man will sue your