The Planet of Junior Brown Read Free

first he had been careful of the two boys. Last year, letting them know he was there in the shadows, he had kept his distance and was as cautious as any teacher ought to be.
    Mathematics cushioned by astronomy had long ago been Mr. Pool’s waking thought. Surely he had been successful in his classroom teaching. Tough, black children of city streets could lay bare their minds in his loud and open classes.
    But I lost heart, thought Mr. Pool. I could no longer teach in so rigid a regime. Maybe I was wrong. Things change—has any of it really changed?
    Only now, through his work with Buddy Clark and the example of Buddy’s devotion to Junior Brown, did Mr. Pool slowly begin to believe in himself again. He could no longer remember when he arrived at the curious notion that the two-legged beings on earth were only disguised as men. Working with Buddy, he sensed a whole new being lying in wait within the boy.
    Perhaps the human race is yet to come, thought Mr. Pool. We must make life ready.
    Buddy Clark moved through the darkness of the hidden room with its solar system until he was standing beside Junior Brown. Gently he feinted a couple of left jabs to Junior’s head and succeeded in easing the fat boy out of himself.
    â€œShuh, man,” Junior said, half in anger. Swinging one of his enormous arms, he knocked Buddy away into darkness.
    Buddy laughed, surprised, as he always did when reminded of the sheer strength of Junior Brown. Above them in the school, buzzers sounded, followed by muffled scuffling, like hundreds of rats trapped in an attic.
    â€œTwo-fifteen,” Buddy said. “We still got us some time.” He looked down at the mighty planet of Junior Brown. “Let them crack those books.”
    Junior Brown shifted his bulk in the folding chair. “I thought I’d maybe leave early,” he said. He did not look at Buddy.
    Buddy was silent a moment. Lately, Junior would try to get away by himself. Buddy never could figure out if Junior was trying to get rid of him.
    â€œYou leave early,” Buddy said, “and you going to have to go down to the river and wait longer than you would ordinary, since it’s Friday, anyway.”
    Immediately, Buddy knew he shouldn’t have mentioned Friday. He could have kicked himself when he saw Junior trying to hide his 262-pound body within the flab of his arms.
    â€œListen, man,” Buddy said to Junior, “Mr. Pool and me, we haven’t even finished our entertainment. We got us a whole show ready—how much you know about our universe?”
    Junior had to shake his head, for what he knew about the universe had come from his friendship with Buddy Clark. He never felt close to it the way he felt close to music. The feel of space between quarter notes or the arrangement of space in an arpeggio played properly made Junior completely happy. But the rhythms of the universe and the vastness of its space brought him only loneliness.
    â€œMr. Pool here knows all about the universe,” Buddy said. “Nothing he don’t know, so you can set yourself easy, Junior, we going to give you a circus ride.”
    Mr. Pool waited in the weak glow of the planets to see if Buddy could reassure the fat boy for one more time.
    What would happen, he wondered, if Buddy got tired of it and let Junior leave early? Would Junior hurry off? Or would he stay, afraid to move without big Buddy to shadow him?
    Mr. Pool’s hands came into the light, touching spheres as they moved, and testing the rods from which they were suspended.
    â€œThe universe,” he said, “has to be the same everywhere, in all directions. Our solar system in the Milky Way is not unusual or different. Our own planet of Junior Brown in the solar system is quite ordinary.”
    Junior Brown knew his planet was huge in the solar system but only a speck in the Milky Way.
    â€œHeavenly science demonstrates that nature is the same everywhere,” Mr. Pool said.