Elliot Allagash Read Online Free PDF Page A

time,” he said. “And don’t forget about the backspin.”
    I checked my grip, bent my knees, and let loose from the foul line. The ball slid off my fingertips, arced through the air, and whooshed through the middle of the net. I swiveled around to catch Elliot’s reaction, but he was too engrossed in his book to notice.
    “Hey, Elliot!” I called out. “I made a foul shot!”
    Vlad laid his giant palm on my shoulder.
    “It’s way too early to celebrate, kid,” he said. “We still got loads more work to do.”
    Vlad blew his whistle and a tall man in mesh shorts and a baseball cap walked through the doors of the gymnasium. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t immediately place him.
    “I’ve brought the children you requested,” he announced in a deep, monotone voice. “If you need any more, just let me know.”
    “Oh my God,” I said.
“James?”
    It was Elliot’s limo driver, the guy who drove us to the gym each day. I had never seen him without his black suit and cap.
    James snapped his fingers and a group of boys ran into the gym, wearing matching T-shirts. There were exactly nine of them, I noticed, just enough for a full-court scrimmage. Vlad stared at James for a moment, shocked that he had abducted so many children so effortlessly. Then he cleared his throat, blew his whistle, and went back to work.
    • • •
    “How did you get those kids to come?” I asked on the limo ride back to my apartment.
    “I had James create a basketball league,” Elliot told me. “There are more than one hundred players.”
    “Jesus,” I whispered. “Isn’t that a lot to ask of your driver?”
    “James is more than a driver,” Elliot said.
    “Okay,” I said. “But…still…isn’t it a little crazy to start a whole league, just for me?”
    “You needed scrimmage partners. And this was the only way to get parents to send in their children. Any other method would have made them suspicious.”
    “So…are there, like, games and stuff? Even when I’m not there?”
    “It’s a standard league,” he said. “There are tournaments, coaches, a newsletter. The team you scrimmaged with today believed they were here for a regular practice. They’re called the Timberwolves.”
    We drove for a while in silence.
    “Hey Elliot,” I said. “Did you see the fourth quarter?”
    “No,” he said. “I was reading.”
    “Oh. Well, it was pretty cool. I stole the ball a couple of times and I made a bunch of layups. I wasn’t the best one out there, but I was definitely better than average. I don’t want to get my hopes up…but I’m actually starting to feel okay about tryouts.”
    Elliot nodded.
    “Don’t get too complacent,” he said. “The Timberwolves are the worst team in the league.”
    • • •
    Over the next few weeks, my speed increased, my shot improved and my confidence soared. Every week, I played against increasingly better teams in Elliot’s league, and by the week of tryouts, I was regularly leading the ragtag Timberwolves to victory.
    My mother, terrified by my recent weight loss, had two different doctors test me for parasites. When I tried to explain that I had been playing basketball after school, with Elliot, it only confused her more.
    “Didn’t he push you down the stairs?” she asked.
    “That was just an experiment,” I said.
    We left it at that.
    I wanted to play in the park to see how I stacked up against my classmates, but Elliot ordered me not to.
    “Lance might notice your improvement,” he said. “And it’s imperative that we catch him off guard.”
    He shook his head suddenly in disgust.
    “The fact that someone of Lance’s class has
influence
at this school is a perfect testament to its baseness.”
    “What do you mean?” I said. “Isn’t Lance…you know…”
    “Isn’t Lance
what?”
    “Well, you know…isn’t he rich?”
    “Of course not,” he said. “His father owns some warehouses in Queens. That doesn’t exactly constitute an empire.”
    “But