Paperboy by Vince Vawter Read Free Book Online Page A

the empty envelope back on the screen door. TV Boy was watching one of those stupid game shows where they asked questions thatyou would only know the answers to if you read encyclopedias all the time.
    You sure wouldn’t catch me near a show like that because if I was lucky enough to know the answer I wouldn’t be able to get it out before the buzzer sounded. Buzzers and timers and watches made me nervous.
    I was riding my bike for collecting because I wanted to get to Mr. Spiro’s house early in case he had extra time to talk to me about the piece of the dollar bill he had given me. I pedaled up to his porch and pushed the kickstand down and went to ring the doorbell. Before I could get to the door it opened and there was Mr. Spiro with a book in his hand and a smile like he was glad to see me. His glasses were so far down on his nose that they didn’t hook behind his ears.
    Good evening, News Messenger. Is that fastball of yours giving the Heater from Van Meter a run for his money yet?
    I knew he was talking about Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and I could have said a plain Yes and that would have been the end but I wanted to try to have a conversation with Mr. Spiro.
    s-s-s-s-My favorite s-s-s-s-p
    I started over so I could substitute the word
player
for
pitcher
. Even though both words were
P
words the
L
changed the way I made the first sound and that was all I needed sometimes to get started.
    s-s-s-s-My favorite player is Ryne s-s-s-s-D
    I promised myself not to pass out this time. I was careful to take a breath before trying to say Duren again. Just because Ryne Durenwas my favorite baseball pitcher didn’t mean I could say his name. Mr. Spiro was still smiling and looking straight at me.
    s-s-s-s-D
    No luck. The
D
sound stuck tight in my throat like a tennis ball in a chain-link fence. There wasn’t any way to substitute a word.
    If I say your player’s full name do you think we might be able to say it in unison?
    I nodded.
    Mr. Spiro tilted his head back and rounded his lips and said Ryne Duren in a regular talking voice. The words came out of my mouth perfect at the same time they came out of his. Mam and Mr. Spiro were the only people who knew how to get me through a bad block and I had only known Mr. Spiro for a week.
    Ah yes. The nearsighted Yankee reliever who makes batters tremble with his fastball.
    How s-s-s-s-did you s-s-s-s-know to help me like that?
    Mr. Spiro stepped down on the porch from his doorway.
    Speech pathology is certainly not my field of expertise but it is an interesting subject that I’ve read a tad about of late. My guess is that you are also in control of your speech when you sing. Is that correct?
    I nodded.
    I’m glad you can share your song, Young Messenger. The proverbial bucket has not been constructed that would carry my pitiful attempts.
    Mr. Spiro put his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of coins. He began counting out the ninety-five cents. I could feel words lining up in my head but it surprised me when they started to come out on their own without me doing a lot of planning and switching words ahead of time.
    s-s-s-s-Would you have s-s-s-s-time to sit on the swing?
    Certainly. I always have time for a Messenger of the News and this is porch-swinging weather if ever I’ve felt it.
    Mr. Spiro went to the swing and sat on the side nearest the house. I sat down beside him and we started to swing. Easy.
    I had another talking trick that worked almost the same as tossing a pencil in the air or saying the words at the same time somebody else did. Talking was easier for me in a swing if I got the timing right and pushed off at the same time I started to say a word. I did this with Mam some and she said I ought to practice swinging and talking more because it smoothed my words out but there usually weren’t many swings handy when I needed to talk to somebody.
    Mr. Spiro waited on me to start the conversation.
    How did you s-s-s-s-know what happened to me last