Island Boyz Read Online Free PDF

flattened down into the grass.
    In seconds Mr. Noonan burst out the back door with the flashlight, combing the trees and pasture, the beam passing just over Keiffer’s head.
    “Who’s out there?” Mr. Noonan shouted.
    When the beam moved off into the pasture, Keiffer got up and ran for his life.
     
    The next morning Nitt got called into the headmaster’s office. At noon in the mess hall word spread like floodwater. Nitt had been peeping into Noonan’s house at night. More than once, everyone whispered. Mrs. Noonan had heard him out there. Mr. Noonan had found his binoculars.
    That afternoon Keiffer was trying to concentrate in English class when a seventh grader came in with a note. Mr. Ellis read it, then strolled down the aisle to the back of the room and gave it to Keiffer.
    Keiffer opened it.
    He looked at it and sat for a moment without moving, then stood and gathered his books. All eyes watched him leave.
    He stepped out under gray and white clouds. Rain fell like mist as he headed across the green grass toward the headmaster’s office.
    Mr. Noonan was there. And Mr. Bentley. And Mr. Toms, the headmaster, a burly, red-haired man who rarely smiled.
    Mr. Toms pointed to a chair and Keiffer sat. His hands started to tremble. He sat on them.
    He’d been caught. It was over.
    He waited for someone to say something.
    To call his parents.
    To tell him to go back to his room and start packing.
    It was so quiet that he could hear Mr. Toms breathing.
    Mr. Bentley leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. In one hand he held a folded piece of paper.
    “Mr. Keiffer,” he said, then paused.
    Keiffer stared at the floor.
    “I assume you’ve heard what happened with Mr. Nitt.”
    “Yes sir.”
    Mr. Bentley nodded. “When we went through his belongings, we found something that he swore was yours. He said he took it from your room.”
    Mr. Bentley handed Keiffer the folded paper. “Did you write this?”
    Keiffer took the letter. He unfolded it and pretended to read it. He willed his hand to stop trembling.
    The letter shook.
    “Mr. Keiffer?”
    “No sir, this isn’t mine. I don’t know anyone named Julie.”
    Keiffer kept his eyes on the letter, afraid to look up. He felt sick.
    Mr. Bentley went on. “Remember the night I caught you out buck naked?”
    Keiffer winced. He wanted to crawl out of the room. He could feel the blood rush to his face.
    “Yes sir,” he whispered.
    “I’ve got to say, I was rather stunned to see you like that. But then Mr. Nitt and Mr. Johnson showed up and said they’d just played a practical joke on you. Was that true, what they said? Did they strip you and take you outside?”
    “Yes sir, they did. They took me out into the cow pasture.”
    “And . . .”
    Keiffer looked up. He shrugged. “Nothing. I just walked back. That’s when . . . when I saw you.”
    “Those two boys do that kind of thing to you a lot?”
    “No sir. I mean they never did that before. They do plenty of . . . of other stuff, but not that.”
    “What other stuff?”
    “Beat me up. Steal food. Put centipedes in my bed.”
    Mr. Bentley paused, thinking.
    Keiffer glanced up.
    Mr. Bentley straightened and turned to Mr. Toms and Mr. Noonan. “Well, you know how the boys are. It’s not the first time something like that has happened.”
    Keiffer glanced at Mr. Toms, who sat with his arms crossed, scowling, tapping a finger on his arm. “What’s your point, Mr. Bentley?” Mr. Toms said.
    “My point is that Mr. Nitt has had it in for Mr. Keiffer for some time. Mr. Keiffer’s roommate told me about the centipedes. I’ve no reason to believe that trying to pin the letter on Mr. Keiffer was any different. Besides, I just can’t see Mr. Keiffer writing something like that. And we did find it in Mr. Nitt’s room.”
    Mr. Toms, his arms still crossed, looked directly into Keiffer’s eyes. He was mulling something over.
    Finally he said, “Did you write that letter, son?”
    Keiffer felt as if his mind were a