Jokers Club Read Online Free PDF Page A

had been cut into each of the four walls and they stapled pieces of screen over them that they had found behind the Tin Man’s house. Inside the clubhouse was a menagerie of mismatched furnishings. A telephone cable spool served as a table in the middle of the floor. Surrounding the table were a wooden folding chair, a couple of overturned milk crates, a torn vinyl hassock with its stuffing poking out and a couple of other unmatched chairs, including a director’s chair. Geoff had told Jason that was Oliver’s and only he was allowed to sit in it.
    The rest of the clubhouse was mostly barren, except for piles of comic books and magazines stacked on a bench in one corner. A drawing was thumb-tacked to one wall of the clubhouse. It was a court jester’s grinning face, with a black and white striped cap with little bells on the ends. Dale Carpenter told him his older sister drew it, copying it from the deck of cards they used to play blackjack in the clubhouse, one of the many things they gathered here to do. Other times they read comic books, scaled baseball cards or listened to Geoff read one of the scary stories he had written.
    But other times they would gather to plot … a prank.
    “Take a look at this,” Oliver Rench said, pointing to something on the middle of the table.
    Jason and the others peered closely at the contents of an old pickle jar with air holes punched in the cover. There were two praying mantises in the jar. There was nothing else in there with them, just the two of them by themselves. One was twitching its front legs together, an almost applauding motion. The other held the classic praying pose that gave it its name. But there was nothing it could pray for. Its head was gone.
    Oliver’s face lit up. He drank the excitement of the scene into his rugged body. Dark brows narrowed with concentration beneath the bangs of his straight black hair. “It eats one of its own to survive.” His grin broadened.
    Jason looked at the headless insect, then back at Oliver. “Sweet.”
    Jason sat on the clubhouse floor because there were only enough seats for the others. All attention focused on Oliver whose eyes moved patiently amongst them.
    “It’s Halloween,” Dale said. “And we’ve got nothing going on.”
    “Yeah,” Lonny agreed, brushing his long bangs away from his eyes, “this bites.”
    “You guys don’t go trick-or-treating?” Jason asked, and instantly regretted it, wishing he could suck the words back into his mouth when he saw the look on Oliver’s face.
    “Why don’t you put on your nurse’s outfit and go trick-or-treating, Florence Nightingale,” Oliver said through gritted teeth, and then laughed.
    There it was , Jason thought as everyone else joined in. The first shot.
    He hated being called that and had been before in some of the other towns he lived in. It made him hate his last name – such a stupid-sounding name – so easy to make fun of.
    Was this what it was going to be like? He pretended to chuckle along, to show them it didn’t bother him. He wanted this to work. He wanted to be accepted by these kids. He didn’t want to blow it.
    Oliver stopped laughing and leaned back in his director’s chair and took a deep breath.
    “Don’t worry about Halloween night boys,” he said. “Have I got a trick for us.”
    “It better be good,” Geoff said. “Last year’s prank sucked.”
    “Oh, it’s good all right.” Oliver paused, reveling in the moment. “This will be a Halloween trick and treat.”
    “Well, what is it?” Dale asked.
    “We’re going to party with the Colonel.”
    Nobody said a word.
    Jason looked at the faces of the others. He could see something registering on them, thoughts clicking, but he was in the dark.
    Lonny hopped to his feet, his long stringy hair bouncing off his shoulders.
    “This’ll be awesome,” he said.
    “I’m not sure about this.”
    Oliver looked at Martin with contempt for saying this.
    “What exactly did you have in