One afternoon, Alphabets was standing by the first floor water fountain. It had the coldest water in the whole school. It was Thad Felt’s favorite watering hole. At a sign from Donnie Stanko, who was standing next to him, Alphabets turned his back on the fountain. Thad stopped to slurp up his cold reward. Alphabets began to speak in a loud voice.
“I tell you Donnie, my brother Victor is so lazy it’s incredible. Four years ago he was kicked out of here for not doing his homework, skipping classes and goofing off in the hallways. Getting expelled was his lucky break.”
“How is that lucky, being kicked out?”
“That’s just it. He heard about the easier teachers at Briney. You’d have to be a moron to fail. My brother and all his buddies decided to go there. They began the life of Riley over there. They still cut classes, didn’t always complete their homework, and they all eventually graduated!”
“Sounds great to me! Maybe I’ll try to get in.”
“It might be too late Donnie. You have to sign up early for the fall term. Sometimes they’re all booked up by May. I won’t mention this to anyone else. Maybe you’ll get lucky. I don’t have problems with my studies, so don’t worry about me trying to beat you out, I’m staying here.”
The two boys walked off down the corridor, leaving a stunned but gratified, Thad in their wake. He couldn’t push his way out of school fast enough.
Thad was home at the dinner table, declining his normal second or third helpings and even his usual frontal assault on his mother’s three layer chocolate cake. He needed to get this discussion going and his business concluded as soon as possible. He needed to get his mother’s signature on the permission slip to attend Briney High. With that achieved, his life would be clear sailing for the next four years. Unfortunately for Thad, his mother wanted to know why he wanted to travel an extra mile to school every day. Having the same mental acumen as his pet goldfish Tim, Thad was drawing a blank. He was left with his mouth open and an unsigned form on the kitchen table. The cutoff was in just two days, and his mother’s suspicions were aroused. Thad was in a panic.
The next afternoon, Steve and Kurt sat in a classroom nervously discussing the situation. “I’ve spoken to my contact at Briney. He said that someone answering to Thad’s description had picked up the application yesterday. He still has not returned it, and tomorrow is the last day.” said Kurt
“The way Thad’s been stalking the halls, I may have to spend the night here. Something must have gone wrong.”
“I’ll say.”
“Is there much to the form to fill out? Is is real complicated? For Thad, anything more complicated than a candy bar could be a major stumbling block.”
“No. Just one page, signed by either parent. That must be it! His mother wouldn’t sign it!” exclaimed Kurt.
“you’re right.” said Steve. “His Dad works late. He’s only home long enough to eat, have a few beers, smack a few of the juvenile delinquents in the house and then go to bed. His Ma must have put the kibosh on it.”
“Then we’ve got to get it signed for him by tomorrow, or we’ll be signing up for Briney.”
“Cheer up, let’s think what Black Jack would do in our shoes.”
Kurt frowned. “Remember the time he walked into Puerto Oro, unarmed and alone? He copied the whole defensive set up of the fort. It was so unexpected, he got away before they knew who he was.”
“Yeah. like Jack said, ‘A bold face sometimes is the best disguise.’” said Steve
“we’ll go over to Thad’s house on the way to school tomorrow and get his mother to sign it.”
“Right. And my father will increase my allowance to $100 a week! We better get our personal effects in order if this doesn’t work. We better hope that Thad isn’t skipping school. Let’s hope that that one of us comes up with a plan by morning as well.”
The two boys then snuck out the back door of school and ran all the way home.