Читать книгу Roy Blakeley Up in the Air - Percy Keese Fitzhugh - Страница 5

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We went through the wrong end of the airport to begin with. Maybe that’s the reason this hike came out all right. Anyway a fresh kind of a fellow with a face all smudged with dirt came up to us after we crawled under a little fence at the far end of the field.

“Say, where do you kids think you’re going?” he yelled at us. “Don’t you see that sign back there that says this ain’t any entrance? Do youse want to be hit? Suppose a plane came taxying ’cross here and bumped into the whole lot of yiz—I spose it’d be the fault of the plane, hah?”

I looked down the field to where a couple of big planes stood. Their motors were going, trying them out I guess, because they didn’t look as if they were in any hurry to take off. Even as far away from them as we were they made such a racket that we had to shout to each other to make ourselves heard.

So I said to the fellow, “Do we sound like we’re all deaf and dumb that we couldn’t hear a plane coming and besides do we look blind that we couldn’t see it too? Goodnight, we’ve got good legs, the whole bunch of us and they do their duty when they have to.”

“Sure,” said Ben with that quiet chuckle he has, “and besides we didn’t see any sign because it was knocked down or something because it’s lying back there in the road. I’m the only one that saw it and it’s lying upside down in a puddle; I didn’t even bother turning it around to see what it was.”

“You’re posilutely in the right, Ben,” I said. “We’re all right—everybody’s right unless they’re wrong and even a scout isn’t supposed to obey signs that are lying in mud puddles.”

“Say,” said the fellow, “you think you’re some smart boy sprout, don’t you, hah? Next time maybe it won’t be so well for you if the field cop finds you coming in under the fence.”

“Do you say we didn’t make a mistake coming in this end of the field and besides do you have to get so fresh talking to us like you are?” the kid yelled, warming up too. “Who do you think you are because you can’t talk to us like that so impolite and all unless you got civil authority! Anyway we’re not afraid of you because besides you had a right to tell us nice and friendly that it was dangerous to come in this end of the field.”

“G’wan, I’ll punch you in the nose, you little runt!” said the fellow, as fresh as could be. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and began wiping off some of the smudge he had around his eyes and nose. Then he said, “If you say any more I’ll take the bunch of you myself and bounce you right off this field.”

“Ha, ha,” laughed the kid, in a kind of sneer, “I’d like to see you try it. You’re nothing but a big bluff and it would take a bigger feller than you are to put us out of here and I’ll leave it to Roy and Ben and Marvin if it wouldn’t.”

Marvin was scared to death, but Ben and I were warmed up so the kid was right when he left it to us. Jiminy, I could have gone on stringing that fellow all day. He was the kind to get mad at the least little thing even if it wasn’t his business to get mad and it was kind of a peeved way he had too.

So the fellow kept wiping off the dirt from his face and all the time he was sneering, sarcastic like, but you could see he was mad as could be. He kind of turned around to go down toward the main part of the field.

Then he said to Pee-wee, “Listen, little noise, for two cents I would try it to show you what a bluff I ain’t!The only thing that keeps me from doing it is because I’m a big feller and it’d be a shame to take advantage of a little runt like you and your other noisy friends but I’ll tell the field cop and let him do his duty. Then we’ll see what’s what.” He turned his back and started to walk away then.

So I said, “Let’s give old Sour-Face three hips and a couple of hurrahs! He can’t even smile at himself!”

“Even you can’t put us out of this field, even with the field cop because I know an aviator down here that I came to see who promised me he’d take me and my friends up in his plane,” Pee-wee yelled. “I’ll go and find him and I’ll tell him and do you say you’ll be able to do it then?”

“Tell that to somebody else,” the fellow said sarcastic like. By that time he had almost all the dirt wiped from his face so he looked back and we got a good look at him and I’ll always remember how I thought he had one of those faces that make you think of trouble.

Anyway he turned away from us again and went on and I threw a nice little bouquet after him. I said, “Good riddance to bad rubbish, Sour-Face!”

So I kind of heard Pee-wee give a groan like and then he said in a kind of painful whisper, “Do you know who that is?”

I said, “No, but even Santa Claus would have a better disposition than that no matter how hot the weather is.”

Pee-wee said, “Shut up, before you say any more!” He whispered, “That’s Lowden Klammer, do you realize that? Just now with the dirt all wiped off his face I recognized him—gee whiz!”

“Goodnight,” I said, and fainted on purpose. Then when I came to, I yelled, “So this is Klammer!”

Ben said, “Yes, but the trouble is, he didn’t even recognize the kid by sight.”

“He ought to get the brass medal for forgetting to remember the kid’s voice,” I said. “Goodnight, he’s the only person I ever heard of that forgot that.”

Even Marvin was giggling but poor Pee-wee couldn’t see the joke. He just stood there looking after Klammer as if he was looking at an explosion. Then he looked around at Ben and me scowling like anything.

“Now you’ve gone and done it calling him Sour-Face and talking to him so fresh and all,” he yelled. “Now he won’t take us up in the plane on account of you and even I’m going to tell him I apologize because I didn’t recognize him under all that dirt.”

Can you imagine that? That’s Pee-wee for you, forgetting how fresh he was too. But anyway, I was really disappointed because it was as hot as the dickens and the sky looked much cooler than any right or left hike that I’ve ever been on. Besides there was the chance of a perfectly free plane ride all shot to pieces.

So while Pee-wee was running like the dickens after Klammer to apologize, Ben and Marvin and I flumped down on the ground, tired and disgusted and warm.

Ben said, “Even if this hadn’t happened I wouldn’t like that feller, would you?”

I said, “No, maybe not! Anyway, if I had to do it over again, I’d wait until after the plane ride before I decided what I thought about him. But what’s the use of talking about it—we might as well talk about how we’re not going to be any cooler unless we get away from these meadows altogether.”

“Well, that’s what we’ll do as soon as Klammer doesn’t accept Pee-wee’s apology,” Ben said laughing.

“Yes, and we’ll go down to the river,” I said. “We’ll fall in, accidentally on purpose.”