The Voice of the Night Read Free Page B

asked.
    “Well, last year you had Bob Freemont and Jim Safinelli. But Jim’s folks moved to Seattle, and Bob is going to be one of the varsity team’s managers next season. So you need a couple of new guys.”
    “You have somebody in mind?” Molinoff asked.
    “Yeah,” Roy said. “How about giving Colin a chance?”
    Colin blinked in surprise.
    The coach stared at him appraisingly. “You know what’s involved, Colin?”
    “You get a team jacket of your own,” Roy told Colin. “You sit with the players on the bench at every game. And you get to travel on the team bus with us to all the out-of-town games.”
    “Roy’s painting only the rosy part of the picture,” the coach said. “Those are just the benefits of being a manager. You’ll have duties, too. Like collecting and bundling the uniforms for the laundry. And taking care of the towel supply. You’ll have to learn how to give the players good neck and shoulder massages. You’ll run errands for me. A lot of other things. You’ll be taking on a good bit of responsibility. Think you can handle it?”
    Suddenly, for the first time in his life, Colin was able to picture himself on the inside instead of the outside, moving in the right circles, mingling with some of the most popular kids in school. Deep down, he knew that a team manager was a glorified messenger boy, but he pushed all the negative thoughts out of his mind. The important thing—the incredible thing—was that he would be a part of a world that previously had been completely beyond his reach. He would be accepted by the players; at least to some extent, he would be one of the guys. One of the guys! His mental image of life as a team manager was dazzling, enormously appealing, for he had been an outcast all of his life. He couldn’t quite believe this was really happening to him.
    “Well?” Coach Molinoff asked. “Do you think you’d make a good team manager?”
    “He’d be perfect,” Roy said.
    “I’d sure like to try,” Colin said. His mouth was dry.
    Molinoff stared at Colin, his blue-gray eyes calculating, weighing, judging. Then he glanced at Roy and said, “I guess you wouldn’t recommend anybody who was a complete washout.”
    “Colin’s right for the job,” Roy said. “Very dependable.”
    Molinoff looked at Colin again, finally nodded. “Okay. You’re a team manager, son. Come with Roy to the first practice. That’s August twentieth. And be ready to work hard!”
    “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
    As he walked with Roy to the bicycles at the end of the driveway, Colin felt taller and stronger than he had felt only a few minutes ago. He was grinning.
    “You’ll like traveling on the team bus,” Roy said. “We’ll have a lot of laughs.”
    As Colin got on his bike, he said, “Roy, I ... well ... I think you’re just about the best friend a guy could ask for.”
    “Hey, I did it as much for me as for you,” Roy said. “Those trips to out-of-town games can be boring sometimes. But with you and me together on the bus, there won’t be a dull minute. Now come on. Let’s go to my place. I want to show you those trains.” He pedaled away.
    Following Roy along the tree-shaded, sun-speckled pavement, elated and somewhat dazed, Colin wondered if the team manager’s job was the thing for which Roy had been testing him. Was it the secret that Roy had been harboring for the past week? Colin thought about that for a while, but by the time he reached the Borden house, he decided there was something else that Roy was concealing, something so important that Colin had still not proved himself worthy to hear it.

4

    They entered the Borden house through the kitchen door.
    “Mom?” Roy called. “Dad?”
    “I thought you said they weren’t home.”
    “Just checking. I better be sure. If they caught us...”
    “Caught us doing what?”
    “I’m not supposed to mess around with the trains.”
    “Roy, I don’t want to get in trouble with your folks.”
    “We won’t.