B.u.g. Big Ugly Guy (9781101593523) Read Online Free Page B

music with this bunch,” Skink said. “Imagine what James Lee would play.”
    Sammy tried. “Drums? He’s good at banging on things.”
    â€œNah,” said Skink. “He’s a triangle man. Makes a lot of high-pitched noise but really says nothing.”
    â€œHe’s a blowhard.” Sammy said.
    â€œWhat’s that, Word Man?” asked Skink.
    â€œIt means someone who brags more than he performs.”
    â€œ
Blowhard!
He is indeed. I like your word.” Skink puffed up his cheeks and then blew hard as if trying to douse a cake full of burning candles.
    For a moment they both held back the laugh and then it burst from them as if from an uncapped fire hydrant. And when they finished laughing, they stared at one another, each waiting for the other to make the offer. Their friendship was too new to be compromised by saying the wrong thing.
    At last, Sammy took the plunge. He could feel his heart stuttering in his chest. “We could . . .”
    And Skink jumped in with him. “We could
start
a
band
.”
    They looked at one another and grinned.
    â€œA band!” they said together, both so excited by the prospect, that without thinking, Skink thrust his right hand into the air in a fist and ended up screaming with pain.
    That scream made two things happened at the same time. Mrs. Murphy, the school secretary, dyed red hair curling in tendrils around her reddened cheeks, rushed out of her office and started to scold them both. And the outside door opened. A tall black man with impossibly broad shoulders stomped in.
    â€œSkinner John Williams,” both the secretary and the man said together, and Skink immediately snapped to attention, turning toward his father.
    â€œWhat did you do to yourself, son?” asked Major Williams. The words were soft but the voice was huge.
    Skink held up his hand.
    â€œBroken?” his father asked in his loud voice.
    â€œDid you show the nurse?” Mrs. Murphy asked at the same time.
    â€œNurse to hearse,” Major Williams snapped. “Madam, I’m taking my son to the doctor ASAP.” It was a statement, not a question.
    ASAP
. It was a new word for Sammy and he liked it. “ASAP?” he whispered to Skink.
    â€œArmy speak for
as soon as possible
. Like right now.”
    Major Williams put a hand on Skink’s shoulder, nodded at Sammy, and said loudly, “I assume you were a help to my boy.”
    Sammy nodded back, unable to speak, all the words he knew suddenly sticking in his throat.
    The bell rang.
    â€œTime for class, Sammy,” Mrs. Murphy said.
    â€œSkinner John!” the big voice boomed, as the major turned smartly to the right and headed for the door.
    â€œSee you, like, tomorrow, Samson,” Skink said. “Stay out of the bathroom till then.”
    And then they were gone.
    Sammy stared after Skink thinking that it had been a very strange day, a two-rescue day. With a swim in the porcelain pool in-between.
    Suddenly, the bell rang again, loud and angry.
    Mrs. Murphy said, “You’re tardy now, Sammy!”
    Again.
    Sammy sighed and ran off to class.

4.
    Rehearse
    Aside from another scolding for being late to class, the rest of the school day passed uneventfully. Even the bus ride home was peaceful. Not for a moment did Sammy think his tormentors had stopped for good, but Skink’s display had certainly given them pause.
And what a pause!
Sammy was able to lean his head back and close his eyes on the bus for the first time for . . . well, forever. He wouldn’t need saving by Mr. Baer. Not today. In fact, the entire bus was noticeably subdued.
    When Sammy got off, he had an uncharacteristic spring to his step on the two-block walk home.
    Home was a ugly stucco house, drab brown and unassuming in design but with a lot of room inside. It sat on a nine-acre plot that ended down at the Mill River, a lazy serpentine run of water that should have had large