Sons of Fortune Read Online Free PDF

him by the god. “What’s
yours?”
    “James,”
he replied, “but my friends call me Jimmy.”
    “Are
you a new boy?” asked Fletcher.
    “Yes,”
said Jimmy quietly, still not looking around.
    “Me
too,” replied Fletcher.
    Jimmy
took out a handkerchief and pretended to blow his nose, before he finally
turned to face his new companion.
    “Where
are you from” he asked.
     
    “Farmington.”
    “Where’s
that?”
    “Not
far from West Hartford.”
    “My
dad works in Hartford,” said Jimmy, “he’s in the government. What does your dad
do?”
    “He
sells drugs,” said Fletcher.
    “Do
you like football?” asked Jimmy.
    “Yes,”
said Fletcher, but only because he knew Hotchkiss had an unbeaten record for
the past four years, something else Miss Nichol had underlined in the handbook.
    The
rest of the conversation consisted of a series of unrelated questions to which
the other rarely knew the answer. It was a strange beginning for what was to
become a lifelong friendship.
    “ spotless ,” said his father as he checked the boy’s uniform
the hall mirror. Michael Cartwright straightened his sons blue tie, and removed
a hair from his jacket. “Spotless,” he repeated Five dollars for a pair of
corduroys was all Nathaniel could think about even if his father had said they
were worth every cent.
    “Hurry
up, Susan, or we’ll be late,” his father called, glancing up toward the
landing.
    But
Michael still found time to pack the case in the trunk and move the car out of
the driveway before Susan finally appeared to wish her son luck on his first
day. She gave Nathaniel a big hug, and he was only grateful that there wasn’t
another Tail man in sight to witness the event. He hoped that his mother had
got over her disappointment that he hadn’t chosen Jefferson High, because he
was already having second thoughts. After all, if he’d gone to Jefferson High
he could have gone home every night.
    He
took the seat next to his father in the front of the car and checked the clock
on the dashboard. It was nearly seven Of clock. “Let’s
get going, Dad,” he said, desperate not to be late on his first day and to be
remembered for all the wrong reasons.
    Once
they reached the highway, his father moved across to the outside lane and put
the speedometer up to sixty-five, five miles an hour over the limit,
calculating that the odds of being pulled over at that time in the morning were
in his favor. Although Nathaniel had visited Tail to be interviewed, it was
still a terrifying moment when his father drove their old Studebaker through
the vast iron gates and slowly up the mile-long drive. He was relieved to see
two or three other cars filing in behind them, though he doubted if they were
new boys.
    His
father followed a line of Cadillacs and Buicks into a
parking lot, not altogether sure where he should park; after all, he was a new
father. Nathaniel jumped out of the car, even before his father had pulled on
the hand brake. But then he hesitated. Did he follow the stream of boys heading
toward Tail Hall, or were new boys expected to go somewhere else?
    His
father didn’t hesitate in joining the throng, and only came to a halt when a
tall, self-assured young man carrying a clipboard looked down at Nathaniel and
asked, “Are you a new boy?”
    Nathaniel
didn’t speak, so his father said, “Yes.”
    The
young man’s gaze was not averted. “Name?” he said.
    “Cartwright,
sir,” Nathaniel replied.
    “Ah
yes, a lower mid; you’ve been assigned to Mr. Haskins, so you must be clever.
All the bright ones start off with Mr. Haskins.”
    Nathaniel
lowered his head while his father smiled.
    “When
you go into Tail Hall,” continued the young man, “you can sit anywhere in the
front three rows on the left-hand side. The moment you hear nine chimes on the
clock, you will stop talking and not speak again until the principal and the
rest of the staff have left the hall.”
    “What
do I do then?” asked Nathaniel,