On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

do computer
     projections in holographic mode, I could get a faster read than in flat mode. I packed
     both computers and told Michael what I was doing.
    “You take what you need,” he said. “If you need more
     stuff, we’ll get it for you.”
    He smiled. I couldn’t get a smile going because I was thinking
     really hard. When my brain is in gear, the smile doesn’t get out too easily. Some
     people think I’m hard. I’m not. Maybe a little too intense at times, but
     not really hard.
    Breakfast: eggs, juice, tea, coffee, cereal, fruit, toast, sausages, and
     something that looked like creamed spinach. Mei-Mei was sitting next to Drego again. She
     kind of leaned toward him, claiming part of his space.
    Tristan was at the end of the table. He was eating the fruit and the
     spinach-looking stuff and staring down at his plate as Javier talked.
    “It’s a three-hour-and-fifteen-minute flight from Newark to
     Heathrow,” he said. “So we should be there by seven at the latest. The
     British group is going to meet us and transport us to our hotel. From what we
     feel—feel more than know—the Eton Group doesn’t really trust
     anyone.They’re talking about Anglo-American ties, but
     they’ve been burned in the past. Two years ago, they organized an Occupy rally in
     Parliament Square and there were more police than occupiers. Then all the leaders of the
     group were singled out and photographed. The police knew when they were coming, and who
     the leaders were.”
    “In England, they have those cameras everywhere.” Tristan
     spoke without looking up. “You can’t take a crap in London without being
     photographed.”
    “We aren’t doing anything illegal,” Javier went on.
     “We’re just gathering information. We’ll be photographed, but most
     likely, any information they gather will stay in Britain. They just gather so much of
     it.”
    “If the British have to watch everyone so closely,” Mei-Mei
     said, “why should we trust them?”
    “We’ll trust them until we find a reason not to trust
     them,” Michael said. “Our mission isn’t to take over anything or
     even to occupy anything. We’re living in a world where the stick seems to have
     nothing but shitty ends. We’re looking to see if we can make a difference. Too
     many people are sitting by the roadside, too tired to move on. Maybe they’re too
     old and tired. Maybe we are too. I have to know, one way or the other.”
    He looked away, as if what he was saying had affected him, but I
     didn’t see how it had. He was still being a mystery.
    It was a different world and I wasn’t sure of myself. Everything
     about Michael and Javier smelled of bigger money than I had ever smelled. Even the way
     they sat at the table, so relaxed, so sure of themselves, said that thiswas where they belonged, and that they had been here before.
    Tristan was alone with his thoughts and seemed almost as if he was
     brooding about something. Anja was light, airy. She tried talking to Tristan a couple of
     times, but he only grunted in return. Mei-Mei and Drego acted as if they were hanging
     out. I wondered how close they really were.
    That left me. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was
     overmatched. When you got down to it, nobody was giving shout-outs to math. They all had
     something special going on, and I didn’t feel as if I could keep up with
     them.
    On the way to the airport, I was thinking of the invasion of Normandy. A
     bunch of guys thinking they were going to save the world and dying on the beaches.
    Security. People going through while scanners were going over their chips.
     An Indian family tried to go through and the scanners couldn’t read the
     woman’s chip. The guards pulled her over to the side and had her stand against
     the wall while her children cried. Gross.
    I got to the security kiosk, and the security dude ran the scanning wand
     over my right hip. My picture appeared on the screen next to him, and he