Jack Adrift Read Online Free PDF

a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked. “I’m a little confused.”
    She looked at me as if I were a complete idiot. “Naming you the Respect Detective is just a scam,” she said. “What you really are is her head spy. Her mole, tattletale, stool pigeon, snake in the grass … Now do you get
it? She has set you up to be her rat . And when everyone finds out, they’ll do what is always done to rats—they’ll corner you and crush you to death with giant stones.”
    Tombstones, I thought. They’ll use bloodhounds to track me down in the cemetery, then push me into an open grave and do me in. The air went slowly out of my lungs as if it were my last breath. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said with a shudder.
    She took another sip of vinegar and screwed up her face. When she smacked her lips it sounded like a whip snapping. “You are really up to your neck in it this time,” she continued.
    â€œHow can I get out of this?” I pleaded.
    â€œWho do you want to hate you the most—Mrs. Nivlash or the students?”
    â€œI don’t want anyone to hate me,” I said, already hating myself for being stupid.
    â€œToo late for that,” she said. “But I’m warning you, if the other kids find out you are a snitch you are going to have to enter the witness protection program.”
    That night I lay in bed looking out my window and over the little swamp. I felt like pond scum. No amount of wishing would get me out of the jam I was in. Even my favorite time-wasting activity of dreaming about Miss Noelle was now ruined. All I could think about was being Mrs. Nivlash’s dead rat. It was awful.
    The next morning I passed by the cemetery on my
way to school. I could see the new grave with its silvery granite tombstone. A few rows away a backhoe was clawing at the sand, preparing for another coffin. “That will be me,” I whispered to myself, “if I don’t get out of this mess.” By the time I opened the front door, I knew what I had to do. Instead of going to class, I went directly into the front office. I pulled the secretary to one side. “I need to speak to the principal,” I whispered. “Top secret.”
    In a minute I was in Mrs. Nivlash’s office. When she saw me she smiled, but not for long.
    â€œI don’t think I’m cut out for this job,” I said to her, and held out my Respect Detective identification card.
    â€œWhy?” she asked, and stared hard into my face. I looked down at her hands. Her fingers wiggled about like the desperate legs on an overturned crab.
    â€œIt takes too much time away from class,” I said, lying. “I don’t spend as much time thinking about my teacher as I should.”
    She smiled down at me. “How do you like your nice, pretty teacher?” she asked in a syrupy voice.
    â€œI love her,” I blurted out. “She’s the best.”
    â€œWell, I might have to transfer you to another class,” she continued, amused with herself. “You get my drift?”
    I got it. “Okay,” I said, backing off. “I’ll stick with the job.”
    â€œSmart boy,” Mrs. Nivlash replied, smiling brightly. “Now get busy.”

    I did. I ran out of the office and down to my classroom and threw myself into my seat. I took a deep breath, then suddenly realized I was in deeper trouble than I had feared. Everyone had gum. The class sounded like a herd of cows chewing and smacking and snapping. The air was sweet from the smell of grape and cherry and strawberry and clove and mint. I was surrounded.
    I put my face down on my desk. Somewhere, an overblown bubble popped. That’s going to be my head, I thought, once Mrs. Nivlash sees this. Suddenly a finger poked me on the shoulder.
    I bolted straight up in my seat. “Arghhh!” I cried out.
    â€œSorry,” the kid behind me said. “I thought you