All-Star Pride by Sigmund Brouwer Read Free Book Online

again!”
    Chandler walked out from the bench and set the ten-dollar bill back into place.
    I didn’t like watching it. For starters, I thought it was mean. But it also reminded me of the money Chandler had dangled in front of me. Not ten dollars, but one thousand dollars. I forced myself to keep my mouth shut.
    Chandler did the trick to two other people. Another guy in a suit. And a newspaper vendor who dropped all his papers trying to pick up the ten-dollar bill.
    Chandler’s next victim was an old lady in a brown dress who leaned on a cane for support as she walked.
    The old lady did what all the others had done when seeing the money on the floor. She stopped, unable to believe her good luck. She didn’t bend over, though, not when she was so old it might have broken her back. Instead, she stabbed her cane down and pinned the money to the floor.
    This time, I laughed. Served Chandler right, teasing innocent people like this.
    I had underestimated Chandler, though. He showed patience. The old lady shuffled forward to pick up her prize. With great effort she squatted downward to get her money. During the brief moment when she lifted her cane to claim the bill, Chandler yanked the money away. The old lady nearly fell forward in surprise. She managed to totter upward and took a few moreshuffling steps toward the money. By then, Chandler knew what to expect, and when she stabbed her cane downward to pin the money again, he yanked the fishing line.
    She stabbed, he yanked. She stabbed, he yanked. Three more times she missed the money. Each time she almost fell with her effort.
    She had her head down and was concentrating hard on chasing the ten-dollar bill. Her shuffling brought her right to our bench. Her hearing must have been bad because she didn’t react to the laughter of the guys around Chandler.
    She took a final stab at the money, so close to Chandler she almost got him in the toe. He was forced to reel the money upward into the air and almost into his lap.
    She squawked at the sight of a paper bill rising into the air. It brought her head up, and she finally realized what Chandler had been doing.
    She was so close I could see the bleary redness of her eyes. The wrinkles on her face bunched together, and she screeched with anger.
    Chandler laughed. She swatted him across the top of his head with her cane.
    â€œHey!” he shouted.
    She shouted back at him in Russian and whopped him across the head again.
    He ducked and tried to cover his head with his hands. She took another swing and mashed the tops of his fingers. He yelped and pulled his hands away to save his fingers, and she hit him again across the top of the head.
    By then, the rest of the guys were almost rolling on the ground with laughter.
    â€œGrab her, guys,” Chandler shouted. “Haul her away!”
    She kept screeching in Russian and swatting him with her cane. People passing by ignored it. Chandler started to run. I guess even he couldn’t bring himself to hit an old lady.
    She tottered after him, whacking him across the back until he finally cleared the arc of her swinging cane.
    I picked up the fishing line and the ten-dollar bill from where Chandler had dropped it in his hurry to escape. I ran afterthe old lady, who was still doing her best to catch up to Chandler.
    I managed to get in front of her and hold out the money.
    â€œHere,” I said, “you earned it.”
    She glared at me. I started to explain again, then realized she didn’t understand English.
    I reached down with my other hand and grabbed her bony wrist. I turned her hand so her palm was up, and I placed the money in her hand.
    She smiled, showing one tooth and a lot of gums.
    I began to smile back, but then I froze. She was so tiny she barely reached my waist. I could see clearly over her head. And what I saw I didn’t like.
    It was the man with the goatee and the eyepatch. The man I had seen the previous night at the black market. He