The Wanderers Read Online Free

through Bronx Park to the cave near French Charlie's field. Six bicycles were strewn in front in a daisy pattern. Painted on the outside of the cave were a skull and crossbones with the legend:
     
WARNING! WHOEVER ENTERS THIS CAVE WILL DIE A DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE ZORROS
RANDY
GLEN
CARY
GENIE
STEVE
PHIL
     
    Richie stuck his head into the dakrness. "Hey, Randy!" his voice echoed off the walls. Randy Gennaro emerged. He had his brother's sleepy bug-eyes and pouting lips, but instead of Richie's curly waterfall hairdo he sported a six-inch-high pompadour.
    "Hey, Richie!"
    "Hey, babe, what's goin' on?"
    "We're havin' a meetin'."
    "Lissen, we gotta job for the Zorros."
    "Hey!" Randy shouted back into the cave. "C'mere, guys." The other five Zorros came out. They all sat powwow style in the damp evening grass. The Zorros were a bunch of sixth graders from Holy Rosary School. They rode their bikes like a motorcycle gang around Bronx Park and Big Playground.
    "Lissen up ... we gotta job for the Zorros," said Perry.
    "What kinda job?"
    "Revenge," said Richie, sending a white pearl of spit arching between his front teeth.
    "We want you guys to rub out an enemy," said Perry, cleaning the dirt from his thumbnail with a pocketknife.
    "A big guy?" asked Phil, a fat blond kid.
    "Nah ... a little guy."
    "Two little guys."
    "What grade?"
    "Fifth."
    The Zorros laughed easy.
    "We'll give you a slice of pizza and a pack of butts."
    "Each?"
    "A slice each and a pack for the whole gang," said Richie.
    "Two packs," offered Perry.
    Richie gave him a dirty look. "O.K. Two packs."
    "Done."
     
    The next day, six Zorros wearing Lone Ranger masks and riding English Racers swooped down on Dougie and Scottie in Big Playground and whisked them off to Bronx Park. Outside the cave the two kids were blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs.
    "C'mon, Randy, I know it's you," said Dougie. Scottie, a skinny little kid like Dougie, with a blond almost white crew cut, was weeping.
    "Silence!" Cary slapped Dougie on the back of his head.
    "C'mon, lemme go, man!" Dougie whined.
    At a signal from Randy, they were shoved inside the cave and made to sit with their backs against a wall. The six Zorros sat facing them. The blindfolds and the ropes were removed.
    "I know all you guys," said Dougie. "I'm tellin'."
    The Zorros were silent. Randy produced a big fat earthworm. He held it on a stick in front of Dougie's face. "If you open your mouth one more time this goes in it."
    Dougie clammed up.
    "Now!" Randy took a piece of loose-leaf paper from his pocket. "Dougie Rizzo and Scottie Hite, you are formally charged with high treason. How do you plead?"
    Before Dougie could open his mouth, Randy picked up the earthworm stick and waved it in his face again.
    "Nothing to say? Ah ... contempt of court. Very good." He waved the stick in front of Scottie. "How 'bout you?"
    Scottie puked in bis own lap.
    "Hmm, spitting at the judge."
    Randy turned to the Zorros. "How do you find the defendants?"
    "Guilty!"
    "Kill 'em!"
    "String 'em up!"
    "Plan C!"
    "No, Plan A!"
    "Plan B!"
    "Kill 'em!"
    Rubbing his hands, Randy faced the defendants. "You have been found guilty on all accounts ... do you have any last words?" He made a motion for the stick but didn't have to pick it up. "Hey, someone clean that guy up." One of the Zorros took off Scottie's shirt and wiped his face and chin. "Now, as judge I decree that you can pick your punishment from three options. A." He counted on his fingers. "We tie you up naked on the cave floor, and in the morning we pick up what the worms and spiders didn't eat." He put the earthworm on Dougie's shoulder. Dougie screamed. "No ... I guess you wouldn't want that. Well, anyway, Plan B." He flicked open a pocketknife and rested it on Scottie's cheekbone. "We scoop your eyeballs out." Scottie screwed up his face like he was going to bawl again. "I guess that leaves us with Plan C."
    "Plan C!" everyone shouted.
    They were marched out of the cave and