The Monster Variations by Daniel Kraus Read Free Book Online Page B

shut, how her swaying arm muscles clenched in the intensity of the embrace, how she ruined her hairdo against Willie without worrying in the slightest.
    Willie broke away and called out one more goodbye, and then they were outside. When the two of them were past the tree house, down the drive, and onto the sidewalk, James threw one more peek over his shoulder. Mrs. Van Allen was still standing at the door, grinning and waving, but she was looking the wrong way, bidding goodbye to no one.
    * * *
    Just before five the three boys stood flat like burglars against a brick wall, behind the bushes. The school doors were not yet locked—the withdrawn bolts were visible even from this distance—and so they continued to wait, and pant, and blink away the sweat. They fixed themselves for an unbearable length of time, motionless in the very spot where they usually ran, silent where they usually shouted, waiting for some signal apparently recognizable to Reggie only.
    At last it happened: Reggie drew breath, nodded, extricated his skin from the wall, and moved.
    “Act like we’re supposed to be here,” he said. He lowered his head and moved like a bull. Seeing him so heedless of peril filled James with sudden courage. He slipped through the door first and Willie scampered in behind, thumping his backpack on the doorframe and once more nearly taking a dive. As usual, Reggie came last, and he took a moment to ensure the door made no sound when closing.
    The school’s primary hallway was not the familiar orchestra of noise to which they were accustomed. Now it was the open throat of a sleeping beast. After not even ten feet, all three boys stopped. For several seconds their footsteps continued to crash off hard surfaces. They stared down the empty distance, unwilling to turn to one another and recognize that frozen look of fright. They held their breath. The silence roared. Finally, they heard faraway thuds.
    “Custodians,” whispered Reggie.
    They moved. When they came to the elbow in the hallway, Reggie held a finger to his lips and moved off to the side. At his signal, all three boys dropped to a knee and removed their shoes, tied the laces together and swung them over their shoulders. When they stood, Willie’s knot didn’t hold and his shoes hit the floor. James winced. Reggie glowered. Willie grinned in embarrassment, angering Reggie even more, and tried again to tie his laces. It was impossible to do well with one hand, so James leaned over and finished the job.
    When they passed the unsecured locker that used tobelong to Greg Johnson, Reggie opened it slowly and together they faced a black emptiness that went on forever.
    They reached the milk room, a small chamber near the cafeteria with a warped wooden door that hadn’t shut properly in years. Inside was a large unlocked cooler that contained hundreds of identical pink milk cartons. Reggie removed three cartons of 2 percent, passed them out, then set about quietly arranging and stacking dozens of empty milk crates that the boys could hide behind. Then they sat together on the frigid cement, sipping their milk, ears pricked for the stray rumbling of a janitor’s mop bucket. The cooler hiccupped and purred. Soon their teeth were chattering.
    “It’s freezing,” whispered Willie.
    “Shut up,” said Reggie.
    They held their breath when keys jangled past the milk room. A few minutes after that, they heard metal clangings. Then more of the same, only farther away. After that, there was no sound beyond the cooler and the careful breathing of the three boys.
    “Okay,” said Reggie.
    They tiptoed out into the hallway. The lights were out. Sunset’s glow spread through far-off windows and glared off the tile. They wandered in small circles, blood pounding through their ears.
    “HEY!”
    James leaped. Willie yelped. They both looked at Reggie, who watched their terrified reactions in delight, his rib cage expanding and collapsing.
    James tried it. “HEY, YOU!”
    Willie