The Hayloft. A 1950s Mystery by Alan Cook Read Free Book Online Page A

hugged her. Boys patted her on the back. Barney got up and slunk away, all alone. After he had left the cafeteria, I also left, all alone. Now that it was over, I was feeling let down, and I was wondering if my senior year had already peaked. It dawned on me that Sylvia and Natalie didn’t need me any more. And I didn’t have any other friends.

    CHAPTER 7
    For the third morning in a row, I arrived at the school early and went to the backstage rendezvous. Sylvia had caught me at the end of the day yesterday and asked if I could come. I was at my lowest ebb, emotionally, since I had started going to Carter. Ruing the past, missing my friends from Atherton, not looking forward to attempting to adjust to life at Carter. And thinking about Ralph, especially at night in his old room. And wondering how to fulfill the demands of Dr. Graves.
    Sylvia had stopped me in the hall as I was walking to my homeroom in the cafeteria, before being dismissed for the day yesterday. She was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak afternoon. I told her that sure, I would meet her in the morning. She didn’t state a purpose, and I doubted that she had another intrigue brewing. I was getting used to rising with the sun, unlike my days at Atherton where I had slept as long as possible and underachieved my way to grades not high enough to satisfy my parents. I told my aunt and uncle that I was going in to do homework.
    The auditorium was dark as I entered. I looked at my watch. I was early. I carefully made my way down the aisle and onto the stage. It was almost pitch black in the wing. I remembered where the switchbox was, but finding it blind was something else. I felt my way, keeping my hands in front of me. I was getting close when I tripped on a piece of a set and fell onto my hands and knees on the wooden floor. Hard.
    Swearing under my breath, I crawled the final few feet to the wall in an undignified manner and located the switch. Being able to see improved my spirits. I wandered onto the stage and looked out at the empty auditorium. The balcony loomed above the orchestra section, ominous in the shadows. The balcony from which Ralph had fallen.
    I tried to picture how it had happened, but I couldn’t. Of course, there was a low wall in front of the balcony. Nobody would fall over it unless he was drunk—or pushed. Even then, the distance of the fall was not necessarily enough to kill a person, unless he landed on his head.
    One of the doors to the auditorium opened. I suddenly realized that I was a sitting duck in the middle of the stage. Or at least a standing duck. I breathed easier when I recognized Sylvia and Natalie.
    As they came down the aisle, Sylvia said, “You look like the stage manager from Our Town . Are you going to start emoting?”
    “Sure,” I said. But an actor I was not. “I can recite ‘The Jabberwocky’ for you.”
    The girls laughed, and Natalie said, “We’ll keep you in mind. The senior play is coming up.”
    I lifted them up onto the stage, which gave me a feeling of power and preserved their modesty, and we went to the dressing room.
    “Who called this meeting?” I asked.
    “I didn’t get a chance to thank you for helping me,” Natalie said. “You saved my life.”
    She said this with a straight face and then she gave me a big hug. I wasn’t used to getting hugs from girls, and I enjoyed it to the fullest. And made it last as long as possible. Then Sylvia gave me a hug.
    “I didn’t realize this was such a big deal,” I said. “What’s going to happen to Barney?”
    “Oh, he’ll bounce back,” Sylvia said. “He’s made of rubber. But I don’t think he’s going to be challenging anybody to play nim again soon. If he does, all they have to do is use Nat as a consultant.”
    Natalie beamed and said, “Dr. Natalie, nim master.”
    I was feeling good now. I said, “And so the mystery of nim has been solved by the Terrific Trio.” I da-da-ed a short musical coda.
    Sylvia said, “Now that