Don't You Know There's a War On? Read Free Page B

curious. For you to come here at this hour—”
    â€œIt’s a very personal matter, Wilma. I have no desire to embarrass the young woman. Besides, she and my secretary are close friends. And may I remind you, there’s a war on. Strict moral standards must be adhered to. We must show the children that everybody—even adults—follows established rules.”
    So this Wilma ups and says, “Very well, Gilbert—if you wish it. I’ll send someone to your office this morning with the paperwork.”
    â€œIt’ll be best—”
    Now I was listening so hard my big ears were almost inside the apartment. So the second I realized Lomister was coming out, I tore to the end of the hall and dove back into the dumbwaiter. I was just reaching out to pull the door shut when the voices got louder, like they were in the hallway. I snapped my hand in.
    â€œThank you for coming by,” the woman said.
    â€œWilma,” Dr. Lomister said, “I do apologize for coming so early.”
    â€œI’ll take care of things,” the woman said. Then she said, “Oh, dear. That dumbwaiter door is open. It’ll make the hall smell.”
    â€œI’ll fix it,” Dr. Lomister said.
    I made a grab at one of the ropes dangling before me and yanked. Instead of going down, the dumbwaiter went up. Bang! It smashed into the top of the shaft. I grabbed the second rope with both hands and pulled. This time the dumbwaiter went right. As I dropped, the door above me slammed shut. Everything went dark again.

8
    FIGURING IT WAS SAFE , I let go of the rope and I took a deep breath, which was a mistake because I gagged on the garbage stink. But with the dumbwaiter staying put, I sat back. I had to think over what I’d heard.
    Miss Gossim was being fired .
    Now, don’t get me wrong, grown-ups did tons of stuff I didn’t understand. And, sure, they were them and I was us. But see, I couldn’t figure any way how Miss Gossim could have done something that deserved being fired. Just the idea made me feeble. And as for Lomister saying us kids wouldn’t care, that made me furious.
    The best I could figure was like this: Lots of radio ormovie bad guys fell in love with pretty ladies. When the ladies refused to marry them, the bad guys did something bad to them. Which is why they were bad. But then these good guys came and saved the women and treated them right. Which was why there were good guys. Like me.
    And with thousands of guys being drafted into the army and a whole lot of them being killed, good guys like me were getting scarce. The way I figured it, in a few years I’d probably be older. Then I’d marry her.
    And the thing was, wasn’t the whole war supposed to be about being a free country? Didn’t Miss Gossim have the right to do what she wanted?
    So sitting there, I made up my mind. It was up to me to do something to make sure Miss Gossim stayed around.
    Only thing was, I had to get to school first.
    Working the dumbwaiter ropes, I lowered myself down. I squirmed out of the box into the basement. My books and lunch box were where I had left them, right at the bottom of the coal chute. I was just about to climb out when that outside steel door flapped open.
    I jumped back. First thing I saw, it was raining hard. Really coming down. Then a voice shouted, “Hey, Rediger! Door’s open. Chute’s set. Let the coal rip.”
    Next second motors whirring, gears grinding. Jeepers creepers! A coal truck was dumping coal.
    Sure enough, coal chunks came roaring down the chute in a cloud of thick black dust. Then the steel door banged shut and I heard the trunk grind away.
    Me? I was spitting and choking. I mean, I was covered with coal dust thick as a fried doughnut with fudge frosting. Worse, when the dust settled, all I could see was this huge pile of coal blocking my way out. Under it was my lunch box and schoolbooks.
    I didn’t have no choice. I picked