Archiwum
- Index
- McAllister Anne, Gordon Lucy Nieoczekiwana zmiana miejsc
- Gordon Dickson Childe 08 The Chantry Guild
- 1102. Gordon Lucy Dwie gwiazdy
- Gordon Dickson The Right to Arm Bears
- 234. Gordon Abigail Partnerzy
- Gordon Abigail Za mloda na milosc
- Gordon_Barbara_ _Gwiazdy_na_ziemi
- Gordon Dickson Time Storm
- Alan Dean Foster The Damned 03 The Spoils of War (v1.0) (Undead)
- James Fenimore Cooper Oak Openings (PG) (v1.0) [txt]
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- gim12gda.pev.pl
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was another story.
The door was marked357 Storage, but a hand-lettered sign on a shirt cardboard
read:OFFICE.
Commando knocked, and entered.
"Ah, Armando. Good morning."
Mr. Silverman's desk extended the entire width of
118______________________________THE TW1NK1E SQUAD
the tiny room. The principal must have had to climb over it to get to his
swivel chair, which was jammed into a forest of upside-down mops and brooms.
"Good morning, sir." Commando was surprised to find Coach Buckley there as
well.
"How ya doin', champ?" Buckley greeted him.
"Well, Armando, you've been taking your punishment very well," observed Mr.
Silverman.
Commando looked back at him blandly. He noted that the rag portion of an
enormous push mop was poised above the principal's head, as though about to
eat him.
"There's been no fighting, either," Mr. Silverman went on. "I'm impressed. 1
think you should be rewarded for this good behavior. All I want from you is a
five-hundred-word essay admitting that it was wrong to attack the Fairchild
boy, and you'll be out of the Special Discussion Group and back on the
Minutemen. How does that sound?"
Commando's heart leaped. Here it was a chance to be back on the team, to be
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done with the Twinkie Squad, or the Grand Knights, or whoever they were! Never
to have to tell Dad about these last few weeks! A chance to be a normal person
again, with normal friends! All he had to do was
"1 didn't attack anybody."
"Now we've been through this before," said Mr. Silverman warningly.
"That doesn't change the truth," replied Commando. "Doug Fairchild got hit
with a basketball."
"I'm giving you a chance to put all this behind you," said Mr. Silverman in
growing annoyance.
"I think maybe you just don't want to lose any more basketball games," said
Commando quietly.
The Broom Closet_______________________________1_19
He cast a crooked smile at the coach. "Am I that good, or is Kahlil that
bad?"
Coach Buckley said nothing.
Mr. Silverman leaped to his feet, upsetting a large metal pail that bounced
off his desktop and clattered to the floor. "All right! Have it your way! But
I say you were caught red-handed!"
Commando bit his tongue. Now was the perfect time to point out that the
person he was supposed to have beaten up had been just about his only friend
since all this had started.
Aloud, he said, "I guess if the Minutemen were having a good season, I'd be
on the Twinkie Squad for life." *
Mr. Silverman was about to blow his stack, so Coach Buckley stepped in.
"Okay, I'll talk to him." He led Commando outside and turned on him an-gily.
"What's the matter with you, Rivera? Don't youwant to play ball?"
Commando shook his head. "Not if 1 have to admit that I did something I
didn't do."
"Look," said the coach in exasperation, "write the essay. I'll help you.
We'll say fighting is bad, and nobody should do it, and we'll never actually
admit you popped Fairchild. Who's going to read it?"
Commando pointed at the "office" door. "He will. Every word."
Buckley looked at him imploringly. "Weneed you, Rivera. We're getting shelled
worse every game! Parents have been complaining!"
Commando shook his head. "I'm sorry. I loved being on the team, and you've
always been great to me, Coach. But I can't let Silverman win this. Hedissed
me! And I lost a lot more than a spot on the
120______________________________THE TWINK1E SQUAD
team. All Waldo misses is twenty passes a game, not me. Team members have
been getting on my case even some cheerleaders who don't want to be seen
with a Twinkie." He pointed at the door again. "1 can't let him win not for
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the team, not foranything*"
Buckley nodded sadly. "You reallydidn't hit him, did you?"
"What do you think?"
"You're the straightest kid who ever played for me," the coach admitted. "You
stick to your guns, and never mind the team. For what it's worth, you've got
my respect for good and always."
Commando smiled. "It's worth a lot, Coach. Thanks."
The two shook hands and went their separate ways.
At lunch, Commando was making his way to the cafeteria when Waldo Turcott
exploded onto the scene, over the moon with happiness.
"Welcome back, Mr. Point Guard!" He picked up the smaller boy and twirled him
around, spiraling through the cafeteria door and into the food line. "The
Turcott-Rivera scoring machine isback inbusiness*"
"I turned him down," said Commando.
It took a few seconds for the words to register on Waldo. "We're going to
roll over the competition! Kick some serious butt! With you shakin' and
bakin', and me owning the paint youwhat?" He dropped Commando like a hot
potato."Why?"
"I had my reasons," said Commando simply.
Waldo looked up at the ceiling and roared his
The Broom Closet
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