He went by the zebra corral where a small boy was picking up stones
and turned into the side entrance of the wing. He went down the dim
corridor, turned left at the men's room, then right and left again, and
came finally to a small yard partially hidden from the main enclosure
by an extension of the wing. In the yard was only one exhibit, a beaver
pool surrounded by a waist-high stone wall. Two teen-aged boys sprawled
on the wall; otherwise the place was deserted. Mr. Kemper studied the
boys. Here was game to his liking. He went over and sat down on a bench
in the sun.
The boys, twins in levis, saddle-shoes, T-shirts and long hair, leaned
over the pool. There was something odd about the actions of the blond
one who tilted dangerously near the water. He moved, spasmodically, and
Mr. Kemper saw the flicker of sunlight on the long stick held like a
spear in his hand, and heard a splash. Cursing, the boy pushed himself
upright and dropped from the wall, shaking water from the stick. "You
missed," said the other one.
"I'll show that flat-tailed rat," said the blond boy. From a back
pocket he took a clasp-knife and snapped it open, and from a side
pocket a length of twine. With swift, vicious twists he started to tie
the knife-handle to the end of the stick. He made two knots and said,
"Man, look at that. That'll hold it, man."
"What about the cat on the bench over there? What if he sees us?"
"Him? So what if he does? We can handle him. Anyway, he's got his eyes
shut, ain't he?"
The sun tingled on the tops of Mr. Kemper's ears as he listened, his
eyes half-shut. "Okay, give me lots of room on the wall," the blond boy
said. There was a rasping of cloth on stone. Then Mr. Kemper closed his
eyes and made a picture in the darkness of his mind, a small, bright
picture that he blotted out immediately after it was formed. By the
pool, metal clattered on stone.
The blond boy yelled, "Hey, what'd you shove me for? Look what you did!"
"Me? I never touched you, you jerk!"
"The hell you didn't. Look at that damn knife!"
Opening his eyes, Mr. Kemper looked at the pieces of knife blade
scattered at the boy's feet and, a little to one side, the broken
stick. He smiled and settled back on the bench, listening to the
argument. The boys shouted and waved their arms, but that was all. As
for their invective, he felt it lacked originality; he tired of it
quickly. He got up from the bench and walked toward them. The argument
stopped.
They looked at him with cold arrogant eyes. "Hello," he said.
They looked away. "You hear something, man?" said the blond boy.
"Not a thing, Jack, not a thing," the other answered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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