Night Swimmers Read Online Free PDF

teacher than Miss Elizabeth. Once Retta had slapped Johnny when he was reading aloud and pronounced island “is- land” for the third time. The worst thing Miss Elizabeth ever did was shake you by the arm.
    “Why do we have to go swimming again though?” he asked. The thought of having to climb down into that cold, dark water while spies waited in the bushes made his voice tremble. He blinked back tears.
    Retta gave Roy a serious look. “Listen, Roy, life’s more than just school stuff.”
    “I know that.”
    “I mean, reading and arithmetic are important because you don’t want to go to a fancy restaurant and count up the bill on your fingers, do you?”
    “No.”
    “But other things count too.” She was looking at him so sternly that he temporarily forgot his fear. “Swimming in a nice pool, for example—that’s important. I mean, when you grow up and are invited to a nice pool, you want to know how to act, don’t you?”
    “Yes.” Roy inhaled deeply. He imagined himself as a grown man, floating in a pool in a black inner tube while onlookers admired his style. The frown on his face eased.
    “And when we get to be grown-up and important,” Retta’s voice softened because this was one of her dreams, “when we’re grown-up and have pools and nice houses and cars, what will we do?”
    Roy struggled with his memory.
    “We’ll share our stuff.”
    Roy nodded. He imagined himself smiling from an upstairs window of his mansion while poor kids swam below in his pool. It was a pleasant picture. He said sincerely, “Retta, anybody who wants to swim in my pool can.”
    Retta smiled.
    Encouraged, Roy went on. “I don’t care how many kids get in my pool. They can even make the water run over and I won’t care.” He made a solemn promise. “Every kid in the world can get in my pool and I won’t say one single word.”
    He paused. He was awed by the scope of his own generosity. In his mind kids from all nations jumped into his pool. The water rose. More kids arrived, many in native dress. They jumped in too. The water flooded his lawn.
    Above, in his window, he smiled a benevolent smile. He made a papal gesture of welcome. “Jump right in, kids,” he said grandly.
    “I’m going out,” Johnny said. He crossed between Retta and Roy. He could have gone out the back door, but he wanted to make sure they knew he was leaving.
    Roy stopped smiling. “Where are you going?” he asked, taking one step forward.
    “To see my friend.”
    “The one with the airplanes and rockets?”
    “You got it.”
    “Johnny, can I go too?”
    “No.”
    Roy paused. Then he said slyly, “I don’t believe you’ve really got a friend!” This kind of thing always worked on him. If someone said to Roy, “I don’t believe you’ve got a friend,” he would say, “I do too, I’ll show you!” He could see at once it wasn’t going to work on Johnny.
    Johnny sat down and began to retie his shoelaces. “I don’t care whether you believe me or not.” He got up, stretched, and started for the door.
    “Why can’t I come?” Roy whined. He followed Johnny to the door.
    “Because.”
    “Why!”
    “You really want to know? All right. You can’t come because, one, you’re a pest. Two, you whine. Three, you have peanut butter breath. Four, you touch things. Five, you act stupid.”
    “Tell me really why you don’t want me to come,” Roy persisted.
    Johnny gave a snort of disgust and turned away. At the door he paused. He looked back at Roy, and then he glanced at Retta on the sofa.
    “Oh, all right,” he said. “You can come if you want to.”
    “Me? I can come?”
    “Yes, if you don’t act stupid and if you keep your hands off Arthur’s stuff and if you don’t act like a pest.”
    “I won’t. I promise.”
    They went out the door without glancing back at Retta. She sat without moving. She could sense the excitement that joined them and fenced her out. She turned back to the television.
    On the porch Roy was