As he looked up, a tall awkward kid walked past his table. It was Kutkas “alphabets” Vanidregulas. Here was Steve’s Tim. Alphabets was a social outcast. He was a foreigner with an accent and a funny name. He looked like a stork. But Steve knew that Alphabets was a genius in the classroom.
“Hey Alphabets!” yelled Steve, “Come on over and have a seat.” The tall boy seemed stunned at first, but he smiled and plopped down opposite Steve.
“Hello. I am Kutkas.”
“Hi, I’m Steve Vernor. What can I call you besides Alphabets or Kutkas? How about Kurt?”
“Kurt? That sounds like a good American name. Okay, Steve.” They shook hands on it.
Over the next few weeks, Steve and Kurt became fast friends. They went to class together, did homework together, and even ran the Thad Felt gauntlet together.
They both agreed that the gang would probably fall apart without Thad to lead them. But how to eliminate Thad without being eliminated yourself? Brute force was out. As Black Jack had said many times: “…guile and cunning sink more ships than cannons and muskets.”
One night while doing their homework in Steve’s room, Kurt jumped up excitedly. “I’ve got it! Remember the Black Jack story, The Return of Marquis Bombon de Altea? His old enemy the Spanish Marquis sneaks up and almost blows Jack’s ship out of the water. Jack and his crew barely escape and have no way to get back at the the Marquis.”
“Yeah, I remember. After that, Black Jack spreads the word about that island. The story gets around that island was full of treasure, food and beautiful pirate women. Black Jack even had some fake buildings set up to make it look inhabited. When the Marquis lands with his men, Black Jack and his crew easily take over the Marquis’ empty ship.” Steve was quiet for a moment. What’s that got to do with Thad?”
“Everything” said Kurt “just listen to my plan.”
The two boys began to plan their course of action.
A few days later, Steve and Kurt leaned on their hall lockers as Thad and his entourage sauntered through the doors of St. Vincents. First hour class had not yet begun when Thad saw Virginia Longeduc and Judy Sloan walk toward him down the hallway. He watched them pass by, ponytails bouncing off the back of their letter jackets. Thad was in love with Virginia, although this love was not yet returned. Thad went into shock when he noticed both girls were wearing green and red jackets from Briney High, not from St. Vincent’s High. He failed to notice the open locker door as he lurched off in a daze for class. Thad and his nose would remember this as bloody Monday.
In the next few weeks, events began to take an even more curious turn for Thad. He was a notorious eavesdropper. In fact, since he was such a terrible reader, Thad got much of his mediocre education through eavesdropping on conversations. His sex education came from hiding by the garage door as he listened to his older brother, Dexter, and his friends discuss cars and women, in that order. He learned of family problems by listening in on his mother’s telephone conversations. He did his school work by copying the homework of bullied classmates, or that of one of his gang when an intimidated kid could not be found.
copyright 1989
Looking forward to part three