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By Root 10532 0

He climbed down and walked snappily, so people seeing him would think he had some place to go and that he wasn’t drooping around like a damn mope. He found himself over near the playground. He went in. Johnny O’Brien, Danny O’Neill and a number of other younger kids were playing indoors, and Miss Tyson, the pretty director, was umpiring. Miss Tyson was a pretty chicken, all right, and a good sport, and whenever she played with the guys, and had to run bases, she slid, and they could all see her legs. Studs stood and watched them for a minute, and he was just going to ask them to let him in the game, when Old Man Hall, in his tan uniform and looking like he was on his last legs, came up. He looked at Studs, sour and crabby, as if it was Studs’ fault that he was an old man ready to go west.

“Come on, now. Get out of here, and don’t be plaguin’ them that are smaller’n you are. This is no hangout for fellows like you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, hanging around here, a big fellow like you that ought to be working and earning a living. Come on, get out!” he said in a creaky voice, starting to shove Studs.

“Don’t go shoving me!” Studs said.

“I told you to get out, and if you don’t, I’ll call the police,” Hall said.

“Well, just watch who you’re shovin’.”

The indoor game stopped, and everybody collected around Studs and Old Man Hall. It made Studs feel like an even bigger clown.

Miss Tyson tried to intercede and explain to Hall that Studs was all right, but the old codger made a long speech, telling everybody that he ran the playground, and as long as he did toughs would stay out even if he had to have the police to put them out.

Miss Tyson smiled sweetly at Studs, and apologized. But she couldn’t do anything. To save his pride, he said he didn’t want to come in anyway, and they could all go to the devil before he’d play on their indoor team in the playground tournament, like he’d said he would when he’d been asked to. He left, Hall hobbling along beside him, and almost every kid in the playground witnessing his humiliation. At the gate Hall said:

“Now if you come back, I’ll have you run in. Good riddance to bad rubbish!”

An old guy, who was so feeble he couldn’t probably hold a spoon of soup without spilling it all over himself, doing a thing like that to Studs! It made him Goddamn sore. He told himself: I’m riled sure, now.

He sat outside the playground, brooding, wondering how he’d get even with Hall. Then he walked on and sat near the sun-blue lagoon, down past the boathouse. He sat. He watched the people flood over the park. He wished he was somebody else. He watched the sky roll down back of the apartment buildings that stood above the trees lining the South Park edge of the park. He watched a familiar-looking Airedale dog shag about, snapping at the heels of the park sheep, until Coady, the flat-footed, red-faced park cop, hoofed it after the dog, probably sweating and cursing his ears off. The dog scampered away from the cop, ran down to the lagoon, and took a swim. The cop sought the shadow of the boathouse. The dog came out, shook the water from its back, and ran. Studs noticed it more closely. It was goofy Danny O’Neill’s dog, Lib, and it ran away every day to come over to the park and take a swim. The dog was a damn sight smarter than Danny. He told himself that Airedales were peachy dogs, they were fighters, they could swim and liked the water, and they were smart; an Airedale was too smart a dog for O’Neill to have. Studs thought of getting even with Danny by doing something to the dog, but when he watched it run, its movements so graceful, its body so alert, its ears cocked the way he liked to see a dog’s ears cocked, he couldn’t think of hurting it. He called: “Here, Lib!” The dog came up. Studs patted its head, softly stroked its forehead the way dogs liked to be stroked, rubbed his cheek against the dog, liked it even if it did smell like a livery stable.

“Good dog!” he said.

He stood up, grabbed a piece of branch and threw it. The dog chased the branch, grabbed it, returned, dropped the branch