The Twinning Project by Robert Lipsyte Read Free Book Online

head is empty.”
    The crowd laughed—well, everybody was laughing except the two muscleheads. I could feel their stares.
    Merlyn pulled a white toy bird out of the hat and put it on top of my head. I kept playing. I went right into “A Hard Day’s Night.” Some people started singing. Then they started laughing again as something began trickling down my face. Was the bird pooping on my head? It was confetti. Merlyn scooped it up and threw it into the crowd.
    People liked us. They threw coins and dollar bills into Merlyn’s open suitcase.
    I played “All Together Now” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” while she did card tricks and had people come up so she could pull coins and Ping-Pong balls out of their ears. I kept peeking at her out of the corner of my eye. She was really good. She could be a professional.
    Suddenly, she said, “I gotta go, Tom.” She was throwing everything into her suitcase, and then she was gone. What was her hurry?
    I was enjoying myself, but it was getting late. I put my violin into its backpack and slipped the straps over my shoulders. At school tomorrow I’d ask Merlyn why she split so fast. And collect my share of the money.
    I was almost out of the park when I felt shoulders pressing on each side of me, steering me along. It was the two guys in white squeezing me between them.
    â€œJust keep walking natural, and you won’t get hurt,” one of them said.
    â€œOkay,” I said. I made my voice small and squeaky. “Please don’t kill me.”
    â€œI won’t,” he said, laughing. “But Earl might.”
    The other one just grunted.
    They relaxed. They thought they had the skinny dork. As soon as I felt the pressure from their shoulders let up, I dropped into a squat and pulled the Tech9 Screamer out of its shoulder holster. I tapped the button. The Screamer was set for the max on Siren2, which sounds like a cop car coming straight at you.
    When they looked around,
I jumped free and headed out of the park.
    But not fast enough. The one called Earl caught up to me. He grabbed my shoulder. I couldn’t break free, but I wriggled loose enough to pull out a cell phone bomb. I pretended to take his picture.
    He panicked and lunged at me. “Gimme that.”
    Last thing werewolves want is for you to have their picture.
    I tossed him the cell phone and ran as fast as I could, which wasn’t fast enough because I kept looking around. I wanted to see his expression when the pepper-spray packet in the phone exploded in his face. I hadn’t used one in combat before. But I missed it because I ran right into a blue wall. A cop.

NINETEEN
    NEW YORK CITY/NEARMONT, N.J.
    2011
    Â 
    W HEN the sergeant behind the desk in the precinct house said, “Your ride’s here, kid,” my stomach twisted. I knew who was here.
    The Lump walked in with a cop who had gold braid on his cap. “I appreciate this, chief. Owe you one.”
    â€œWe’re on the same team.” The chief shook the Lump’s hand.
    The Lump grabbed my arm and steered me out of the precinct and into his car. Once we were on a highway heading out of the city, he said, “The cops said you were running away from something. What was it?”
    â€œSo what’s this ‘We’re on the same team’ stuff?”
    â€œClassified,” he said. “What happened in the park?”
    â€œClassified,” I said.
    We didn’t talk for the rest of the ride.
    It was way after midnight when we got home. Mom was waiting outside the house, pacing in the driveway. Her suitcase was on the steps. She pulled me out of the car and hugged me.
    When the Lump got out, Mom hugged him and said, “Thanks, Keith.”
    I said, “Don’t thank him. If he had taken me to my lesson, none of this would have happened.”
    Lump shrugged. “Noted.”
    Like he cared.
    â€œWhat did happen?” said Mom.
    â€œI got picked