The Pool Party by Gary Soto Read Free Book Online

rolled his inner tube to the backyard, which overlooked the bluffs, where a shallow river ran. Now that it was summer, its banks were dry and the water was no bigger than the flow from a garden hose running along a curb.
    When Rudy and his inner tube came into view, the kids, who were huddled around the pool or splashing in it, looked up to the shadow of the inner tube. They were curious.
    “What’s that?” asked one freckle-faced boy with a blown-up duck around his waist.
    “Who’s that?” a girl snickered. She was hugging a whale and getting ready to dive into the pool.
    “Tiffany invited
him
to the party?” another asked.
    Mindy was scraping a cracker over a wheel of Brie. She was standing under the arbor and chatting with Eric Contrary Mendoza III. She looked up and moaned, “Oh, it’s Rudy Herrera. Look at that thing he’s brought!”
    While all the kids had fancy pool toys, Rudy proudly rolled in his inner tube. He didn’t feel self-conscious. He was, as his father said,
real.
He sized up the pool while he rolled the inner tube toward Tiffany, who was wearing a green T-shirt over a pink swimsuit. She looked beautiful. She looked like her mother, only smaller.
    Tiffany smiled at Rudy. “Thanks for coming, Rudy,” she greeted him. Shelooked at the inner tube. She stroked it and stuttered, “Why—why … this is the biggest pool toy I’ve ever seen!”
    “Do you like it?” Rudy asked.
    “It’s smashing,” she said.
    “Yeah, it’s smashing all right,” he agreed. “It just smashed into a Mercedes-Benz.”
    The kids who first thought that the inner tube was weird began to mill around Rudy. They touched and poked at it, curious where Rudy had gotten it and if it was possible for them to get an inner tube too. The red-haired boy slipped the duck pool toy from his waist and asked, “Can we take it into the pool?”
    “Simón,”
Rudy said. “That’s why I brought it.”
    Rudy rolled the inner tube to the edge of the pool. He counted as he rocked the inner tube back and forth, “One, two, three …” On the count of ten, the inner tube rolled like a huge black shadow into the water and everyone, arms and legs flailing, jumped on it.
    Tiffany and Rudy walked to the arbor, where a buffet of colorful food lay. Mindy tagged along reluctantly. “So, how’s your summer vacation?” Tiffany asked. She nibbled on a cracker.
    “Pretty good. I’ve been helping my father cut lawns. We even did Mindy’s,” Rudy said. He bit into a carrot stick and nibbled it like a rabbit. “Right, Mindy?”
    Mindy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you did ours.”
    “My dad even let me use the edger,” Rudy continued.
    “Can’t you change the subject?” Mindy suggested. She crossed her arms and looked impatient.
    Rudy remembered his father’s advice—small talk. Rudy grabbed a handful of crackers and offered, “I like turtle soup, but I like
menudo
better. Don’t you, Mindy?”
    “What?”
    “Don’t you like
menudo?
” Rudy asked. He tossed a cracker into his mouth. Theedge of the cracker poked against the inside of his cheek.
    Mindy walked away in a huff. Rudy turned to Tiffany and shrugged his shoulders. “I was just trying to make small talk.”
    “That’s okay,” Tiffany said. “She’s stuck-up. Come on, let’s go swimming.” She took Rudy’s hand and led him to the pool. They swam and then hopped onto the edge of the inner tube. They were like the bride and groom on a wedding cake.
    “It would be
bad
if you and me were in the ocean on an inner tube,” Rudy remarked dreamily. “One time I almost drowned, but this inner tube saved me.”
    “Really?” Tiffany asked.
    “Yeah, I was at Avocado Lake with Alex,” Rudy dreamed on. “You know Alex, don’t you?”
    “I think so.” Tiffany splashed water on her hot face.
    “I got a cramp in my leg, and Alex saved me. Well, actually, it was his dog—Poki. Poki pulled me to shore.”
    “How exciting!”
    Rudy felt good. He was making small talk.