The Year the Lights Came On by Terry Kay Read Free Book Online Page A

know that?”
    “That’s all you ever buy when—when you get a nickel.” There was sadness in her words. I felt like an orphan in rags.
    “Heck, I got lots of nickels,” I lied bravely. “I got two or three dollars’ worth at home, tied up in the toe of a sock. I’m savin’ for this air rifle…”
    Megan did not answer. She put her head in her hands and gulped air. She then became very still and placed her hands on her Blue Horse tablet.
    “Yeah. There’s this air rifle at Harden’s Five and Ten,” I bragged. “I’ll get it. By summer, too.”
    Megan did not answer.
    “Anyway, Three Musketeers is my favorite candy.”
    Megan did not answer.
    “I’ll draw you a picture and pay you back,” I suggested.
    “I—I’d like that,” she whispered.
    “You like dogs?”
    She nodded. “I’ve got a cocker spaniel.”
    “Me, too,” I said. “Well, I used to have one. Ol’ Red. But he died. One time I knocked Paul Tully’s bottom tooth out because he called Ol’ Red a son of a bitch, and you know what he…”
    Oh, my God, I thought. I said son of a bitch. I couldn’t believe it. Everything was going beautifully.
    “I’m sorry—I—I…” I stuttered.
    “That’s all right.”
    “It just came out.”
    “I know.”
    “He did, though.”
    “What?”
    “Called Ol’ Red a—a S.O.B.”
    “Oh.”
    The bell rang and I jumped two feet. Dear God in Heaven, I thought. They’ll be coming in and catch me. Catch me talking with her, someone from the Highway 17 Gang. Megan turned for one last penetrating look, an I’m-Glad-We-Had-This-Time-Together look. Pale green eyes, hair as blond as a full moon.
    Wayne and Dupree were first through the door, laughing, shoving, playing. They saw Megan and me and stopped abruptly. We were both buried in spelling books. Paul and Otis and Freeman and R. J. followed Wayne and Dupree. Then half the population of Georgia slipped noiselessly into the classroom. I wanted to melt into butter, to disappear into another time and place like some victim of Mandrake the Magician’s powers.
    Otis walked past me and paused just behind my desk.
    “What you been doin’?” he pried, whispering.
    “Studying this spelling.”
    “What’s she doin’ in here?”
    “Otis, you tryin’ to start something?” I hissed.
    “Don’t look right.”
    “I can’t help it. She come in right before the bell,” I said in an even, mean voice. Who cared about Otis Finlay, anyway? I could whip him and I knew it.
    “Shut up,” Freeman ordered Otis, and Otis obeyed.
    I did not move my eyes from my desk for two hours. I missed eight of ten spelling words.
    No one said anything about discovering Megan and me together in a classroom, but I knew what they were thinking. Aha! was penciled and exclamation-pointed on every face in school. Wesley smiled and gave me an easy, playful shot in the ribs and said, “Aw, forget it. It’s not your fault she came in there.”
    Wesley was the only person who believed me, but Wesley was enough. No one would dare question me if Wesley had faith in my innocence. I felt relieved, but I also felt guilty. I wanted to tell Wesley, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. On the school bus, riding home, I began to imagine I was Judas and that afternoon I stole away into the dark tomb of Black Pool Swamp and hid, and drew a picture of a dog for Megan.
    *
    I had almost talked of the REA to Megan. Our Side had changed and she knew it. Everyone knew it. The pressure was building.
    On Saturday, a man in a Jeep appeared at our home and he and our father walked away, crossing a field to a pine tree stand. Wesley and I watched from a distance. Occasionally the man would stop and gesture toward Emery or Goldmine and I knew from the mime of his arm-waving that he was saying something important. I also thought I had seen the man before and I asked Wesley about him: “Is that the same man who was talking to Daddy about the REA?”
    “Yeah, I guess,” said Wesley.
    “What’re they