The Eyes of Kid Midas Read Online Free PDF Page A

their aching feet.
    Kevin basked with his glasses on. Through the dark lenses, he could see Josh staring at him. Josh was examining the glasses the way he would stare at a brand-new sports car, letting his eyes move across the perfect surface.
    "You know," said Josh, "they could have been mine if I got there first."
    Kevin shrugged. "That's the breaks."
    "Your parents'll probably hate them," said Josh.
    Kevin wondered if they'd even notice them. His mother rarely seemed to notice anything Kevin did, and his father was still trying to figure Kevin out.
    "They won't care," said Kevin.
    "You think Nicole likes your glasses?" he asked with a grin.
    Kevin frowned. "She thinks I have a pinhead."
    "You do," said Josh. "But that's okay, because you've also got a pin body."
    Kevin was searching for a comeback line when Bertram called to them from across the pond.
    "Hey," bellowed Bertram. "Hey, Midas, I hope you know I'm not talking to you because of what you did!"
    Kevin, with the safety of a small lake between them, bellowed back, "Are you saying that you admit we climbed the mountain, and I got there first?"
    "We admit nothing!" bellowed Hal, who stood firmly and strongly in Bertram's shadow.
    "All's we admit," said Bertram, "is that you and Wilson are gonna have a short life expectancy unless you stay out of my way."
    "Ah, go jump in a lake," said Kevin.
    And sure enough, Bertram flung out his armsand did a commanding belly flop into the frigid water.
    When he surfaced and scrambled for shore, both Kevin and Josh broke out in raucous laughter. It was echoed by everyone else in attendance.
    Bertram climbed out of the water and onto the boulder he had been standing on, trying to figure out what had happened.
    "Hey, Bertram," yelled Kevin, pushing the glasses farther up on his face, "that was pretty good—but can you do it again?"
    Bertram slipped, spun his arms a few times, and flew into the lake once more. Splash! Everyone watching collapsed into convulsions.
    Bertram blubbered his way to shore, only to find Hal laughing, too.
    "Hey, Bertram," said Hal, "don't look now, but I think there's a fish in your pants."
    Bertram then screamed his guts out, because, as everyone knew, Bertram was deathly afraid of live fish, due to some early-childhood trauma. He leapt around like a madman, until finally a small bullhead trout came flopping out the leg of his jeans.
    Kevin and Josh were in stitches, but when they finally recovered enough to look at Bertram's face, they realized he had quickly overcome his terror. His fists were clenched, his jaw was clenched, and there was an evil look in his eyes—"the chain-saw look," as people called it. Bertram left his rock and began to run around the lake toward them, picking up speed like a locomotive. Hal ran around the lake the other way.
    The sight of the rapidly approaching chain saw quickly sobered Kevin and Josh. They turned and raced barefoot into the woods.
    "Nice going, Kevin," Josh hissed.
    Kevin made it to safety, but Josh, whose feet were more swollen than Kevin's, was snatched by Hal and put into an Extremely Full Nelson.
    Kevin hid behind an outcropping of boulders, waiting for an opportunity to spring Josh, and watched as a soaking-wet Bertram came into the clearing.
    "You laughed at me?" Bertram screeched into Josh's face like a psychotic drill sergeant.
    "No," said Josh, "we were laughing with you."
    "You thought that was funny? The thing with the f-f-fish?"
    Try as he might, Josh couldn't hold back his smile.
    Bertram took Josh's arm and tugged it hard enough to send him sprawling in the dust.
    "But what about Midas?" asked Hal.
    "One at a time," said Bertram, flashing his teeth in a wide, crooked smile. "And I don't care what the teachers do to me, I don't care what my father does to me, and I don't even care if Midas calls out his big sister on me." Bertram pulled Josh to his feet and began to swing a heavy fist at Josh's nose.
    Kevin had to think fast. There had to be a way to