The Outlaws of Sherwood Street: Giving to the Poor Read Online Free PDF

said.
    Silas stuck out his tongue at a weird sideways angle, kind of like Pendleton, and licked ketchup off his cheek. It was a roundish sort of cheek, and Silas was a roundish sort of kid, red-haired with freckles and green eyes that took in everything. He had one of those very expressive faces, like an actor. Right now it was expressing self-satisfaction, maybe because he’d pulled the space heater right up beside him and was hogging all the heat.
    â€œPlanning on sharing those fries?” I said.
    â€œBe my guest,” said Silas. “Although I should warn you I feel a cold coming on.”
    I left the fries alone, but not Ashanti, who grabbed the container and dug right in. Silas frowned at her.
    â€œWhat’s your problem?” she said, or something like that. Hard to tell with her mouth so full.
    Silas shrugged. “Eat and be merry,” he said.
    But we weren’t feeling merry, me and Ashanti, and neither was Silas after we told him all the news.
    â€œWhoa,” he said. “Incoming! Incoming!” And he put his hands over his head.
    â€œSilas?” I said. “What are you doing?”
    â€œYou dweeb,” said Ashanti.
    â€œI’m not a dweeb,” Silas said. “Not by any kind of strict definition.”
    â€œA geek?” said Ashanti.
    Silas looked offended. “A geek,” he said, “is a drunk who bites the heads off live chickens.”
    Ashanti stopped eating, put the fries on the desk.
    â€œI’m more like a nerd,” Silas said, helping himself to another handful, “if you really have to put a label on people.”
    â€œSorry,” Ashanti said; kind of a surprise: had I ever heard her say sorry to anybody?
    But of course Silas had to blow it. “Apology graciously accepted,” he said.
    â€œJerk,” Ashanti said.
    â€œGuys?” I said. Meaning
enough.
They both turned to me. “What are we going to do?” I said.
    â€œIf only we still had the charm,” Silas said.
    â€œIf only won’t get it done,” Ashanti said.
    â€œI’m not sure it would do any good,” I told them.
    â€œHuh?” they said.
    â€œI mean—did we have the charm or did it have us?”
    They thought about that. Then Silas said, “I still wish we had it. Maybe we could learn to scuba dive.”
    â€œAnd search where?” Ashanti said.
    â€œThe bottom of the sea,” said Silas.
    â€œBut exactly where? All we know is we were out there somewhere.”
    Ashanti was right about that. I could see it all, but not in the way you picture things that happened in real life, more the way you picture things that happened in a dream. One of those falling dreams in this case, falling off the helicopter deck of
Boffo,
falling and falling through the night and blowing snow, leveling out at the last moment, so close to death that my arm went plunging into the wild and icy waters, which was when I must have lost the leather bracelet with that strange silver heart.
    â€œMaybe you’re right,” Silas said. He had some sort of thought that made him frown. “Do you think the scuba diving people expect you to know how to swim?”
    â€œYou don’t know how to swim?” I said.
    â€œIt never came up.”
    â€œYou’ve never been to the beach?” Ashanti said.
    â€œI don’t like the beach. I burn right away.” Silas stuck out his chin. “And what’s wrong with indoors? Indoors is a great human invention.”
    Uh-oh. Great human inventions was one of Silas’s favorite topics. This wasn’t the time.
    â€œLater, Silas,” I said. “What are we going to do? That’s the point.”
    â€œSimple,” he said. “We prioritize.”
    â€œMeaning?” I said.
    â€œMeaning start with the most—”
    â€œWe know what prioritize means,” Ashanti said.
    â€œThen we’re all on the same page,” said Silas. “But are we in