Dave at Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

said. “I like that. I’m three-quarters too then, because my grandfather’s alive.”
    â€œThere’s no such thing as three-quarters, buddy,” Harvey said. “You’re both wholes.”
    â€œWho are you to decide?” I said.
    â€œI’m me, buddy, and I’m telling you there’s no such thing as a three-quarter orphan.”
    â€œOh, yeah?” I could beat him up.
    â€œFight later,” Eli said. “Not here.”
    Mike opened the door to the basement. Inside, long tables and benches were set up, with pipes overhead and pillars separating the rows of tables. The noise of a million boys yelling rang off the pipes and the low ceiling. A few grown-ups stood around. Mr. Meltzer was there, but I didn’t see Mr. Doom.
    We sat at an empty table. I wound up on a bench between Mike and Eli, across from the twins from our class. Harvey was at the end of the bench, with a lot of elevens between us, which was good. Each twin reached across the table to shake my hand. They shouted that their names were Jeff and Fred. Except for Fred’s chipped front tooth, they looked exactly alike—red hair, freckles, dark-blue eyes.
    Women started coming through a swinging door a few yards away. Each of them carried a huge, steaming pan. I smelled something like burnt rubber.
    A bunch of older boys came to our table, and one sat next to each of us elevens. We had to scoot over to make room for them. Harvey got pushed off the bench. He didn’t tell these big guys that he was one himself and they should shove over. He just went to another table. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
    â€œHi,” I yelled to the boy next to me. I stuck out my hand. “I’m Dave, buddy.”
    He didn’t shake. “You’re new,” he said. He was almost as tall as Mr. Meltzer, and more solid. He was bigger than the other older boys by a good three inches in every direction.
    â€œThat’s Moe,” Mike said. “He’s not your buddy. He’s your bully.” He pointed to the boy on his left. “He’s mine. Lucky you. You got the biggest, scariest bully in the HHB.”
    â€œSo what?” I could outrun him, anyway.
    Mike shook his head and shrugged twice. “You’ll see.”
    Eli added, poking his head around his bully, “And when you see, buddy, don’t do anything stupid.”
    He had no business bossing me around. Him and Harvey.
    A woman came to our table with one of the pans.
    â€œThat’s the coffin,” Mike said, pointing at it.
    She lowered it to serve us, and I saw what was inside. Stew, noodles, and a greenish-brownish vegetable. The portion spooned onto my plate was small. I started eating. The meat was gristly. The vegetable was burnt weeds.
    Next to me, Moe reached under his shirt and pulled out a rabbit’s foot on a string. He kissed the foot. Then he picked up his fork.
    It went the wrong way, to my plate instead of his, and he started eating my food. The bully next to Mike was eating Mike’s lunch. For a second I just stared, and in that second half my meal was gone. We ate the rest together. The only time Moe left my food alone was when a grown-up walked by.
    When my plate was clean, Moe started on his own. I moved my fork to his plate too. Fair is fair. When my fork touched Moe’s plate, I saw Fred nudge his brother to watch.
    â€œDon’t.” Moe moved my hand away from his food. Then he put his hand down on mine and ground my palm into the tabletop. I bit my lip to keep from screaming. Under the table I kicked him as hard as I could. He didn’t seem to notice. When he let go of me, my hand felt numb. Then it stung and ached. I looked at my palm. Lines from the wood grain were pressed into my skin, and I had a splinter.
    I wasn’t hungry anymore. I gathered a big gob of saliva in my mouth and spat onto Moe’s food.
    â€œYou can spit all you want,” he said with a