The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys Read Online Free Page B

handgrips, his forearms bulging and vein-etched, his thumb-bandage stained.
    “I’m not part of your damned ‘gang,’ “Joey said. “I’m not doing anything illegal.”
    The year before, we’d tried to recruit Joey because he could draw and was blasphemous and knew a lot about music. But he refused to steal or risk fights.
    “Joey,” Tim sighed, “your signature’s on the evidence. You’re worse off than us because Ascension’s your aunt.”
    Joey looked like he’d been stabbed. “I—I was drunk when I drew it.”
    “So were we. Tell her that.”
    Joey groaned and let himself collapse onto an oak root. His lower lip quivered. I always felt boy-tough in Joey’s presence, but shamefully so, like feeling good about yourself when you see somebody in a wheelchair.
    “We’re going to capture a mountain lion and release it in Blessed Heart School,” Tim said.
    The squeaking of Wade’s handgrips stopped. I laughed.
    “Francis thinks I’m bullshitting,” Tim said.
    Rusty said, “We got it worked out. Semi.”
    Wade and Joey said, “Mountain lion?”
    I snickered some more. Tim stared at me patiently.
    “We’ll do the reconnaisance tomorrow,” he said. “On the field trip. They have panthers there.”
    Rusty’s mom was class mother, and she’d arranged an outing to Marshland Island, a new educational facility that included a sort of zoo. Rusty and Tim had suggested it.
    “We can steal the cat on a Saturday,” Tim said. “Then we bust into the school on Sunday and set it loose. We leave notes at the rectory and the convent saying what we’ve done. They’ll close the school down until they catch it, and by then Kavanagh will have forgotten about our comic book. Compared to a rampaging wildcat, it’ll seem like high jinks, see? It’s relative. Like if you get bitten by a snake, you forget about the mosquito bite you got earlier.”
    Joey kept shaking his head, wiping sweat from his face with dirty hands, leaving streaks. He sniffled and grunted.
    “The cops’ll shoot it and we won’t miss any school,” Wade said.
    “No,” said Rusty. “It’s an endangered species and it’s government property. And first they’ve got to find it—we’re talkin about a fuckin lion—and that’ll take time, experts, equipment.”
    “What if they don’t believe the notes?” I asked. “Suppose they have school anyway and somebody gets eaten? Jesus.”
    “The island will report the cat missing,” said Tim. “There’ll be obvious signs that we’ve tampered with a door or window. Et cetera.”
    “What if they catch it the first day?” Wade asked.
    “Then we leave a new set of notes saying there’s a bunch of rattlesnakes in the school now, or scorpions or whatever. After a cougar, they can’t afford to doubt anything.”
    I said, “Even if we could do this, it seems cruel to the animal, and a hell of a lot of trouble.”
    “The problem with life,” Tim explained, “is that when you’re not in trouble it’s boring.”
    “After the cat sees what’s here—all the people and concrete and cars and all—he’ll be glad to return to the island. He’ll live out his life knowing he’s in a good place.” Rusty inflated his chest and folded his arms across it.
    “And this is probably the last big job we’ll ever do as a gang. After this summer, we’ll probably never see each other again. We might as well finish up with something spectacular.”
    “I’m ready for it,” Rusty said. “I don’t give a shit anymore. I’ve lived a full life.” Rusty’s dad had been promoted to vice president of a lumber company whose home office was in Tennessee. After graduation, Rusty and his mom were moving up there.
    “I spent a day in the juvenile home last summer,” I said. “Remember? And this is more serious than ripping off Kmart.”
    “You surrendered,” Tim said. “You did the genteel Robert E. Lee thing instead of hauling ass like the rest of us.”
    “Y’all are psychos,” Joey hissed.