Black Rabbit Summer Read Online Free PDF Page A

He’d always liked being in the dens – I think he felt safe and comfortable in them. To the rest of us, they were just places to go, places to be, places to do things we weren’t supposed to do. But to Raymond I think they were some kind of sanctuary, a refuge from the big bad world. He even used to go to the dens on his own sometimes, which I always thought was a pretty cool thing to do – just sitting there on your own, hidden away in a secret place, no one knowing where you are…
    I wish I’d had the courage to do that.
    ‘So,’ I said to Raymond, ‘what do you think? Do you want to go?’
    He shrugged. ‘I don’t know…’
    ‘We could just go to the den, if you want… just for an hour or so. We don’t have to go on to the fair afterwards.’
    ‘What about Pauly?’
    ‘He’ll be all right… don’t worry about it. I mean, you know what he’s like – he’ll just be the same old Pauly with us.’
    ‘Same old Pauly,’ Raymond muttered.
    ‘Yeah, I know…’
    ‘He used to come round here.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘He made me think he was OK.’
    Raymond was beginning to look saddened again now.
    ‘It’s all right,’ I told him. ‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to go. I mean, it’s no big deal or anything.’
    He looked at me. ‘You want to go, don’t you?’
    I shrugged. ‘I really don’t mind.’
    He smiled. ‘I can tell.’
    ‘Tell what?’
    ‘You want to see Nic.’
    ‘No, I don’t –’
    ‘I can tell.’
    ‘Well, you’re wrong…’
    He shrugged, still smiling at me.
    I shook my head. ‘Why would I want to see Nic?’
    ‘Because…’
    ‘Because what?’
    ‘I don’t know… just because.’
    I shook my head again. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Raymond.’
    He grinned at me. ‘I know.’
    ‘I mean, I wouldn’t mind seeing her… just to say goodbye and everything… but I’m not bothered if I don’t.’ I looked at him. ‘There’s nothing between us any more, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
    ‘Right,’ he said.
    I glared at him, trying to look annoyed, but it was impossible. The way he was just sitting there, staring wide-eyed at me, grinning his head off… I couldn’t help smiling at him.
    ‘I don’t even know why I’m listening to you,’ I said.
‘Pardon?’
I grinned at him. ‘You think you’re funny?’
He laughed. ‘I know I’m funny.’
    We carried on sitting there for a while, just soaking up the sun and talking about stuff – exam results, college… nothing important – and then around two o’clock we both heard the sound of the front door slamming, and Raymond said he’d better go inside.
    ‘It’s my dad,’ he said, suddenly very serious. ‘He’ll probably want something to eat.’
    Raymond didn’t like talking about his parents, so I didn’t ask him where his dad had been, or why he couldn’t get something to eat for himself, I just nodded and started to get up.
    ‘What about tomorrow then?’ I asked him. ‘Do you want to give it a go?’
    ‘Yeah, I suppose…’
    ‘You sure?’
    He nodded vaguely, but he wasn’t really paying attention to me any more – he was concentrating intently on the back door of his house, looking out for his dad.
    ‘I’ll come round here about nine,’ I told him. ‘Is that OK?’
    He didn’t answer.
    ‘Raymond?’ I said.
    He glanced at me. ‘What?’
    ‘Tomorrow night – I’ll come round at nine o’clock.’
    ‘OK…’
    His head snapped back to the house again as he heard his dad’s voice calling out – ‘ Raymond! ’
    ‘I’d better go,’ he said quickly, scuttling off towards the house. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
    ‘Yeah, see you, Raymond,’ I called after him. ‘And don’t worry about anything…’
    But he was already halfway down the garden now, and I knew he wasn’t listening to me any more. I watched him as he opened the back door and hurried into the house, and I wondered, as I’d wondered so many times before, what kind of life he