Chapter Seventeen

A damo? "

" Three. "

" Beauvais? "

" Five. "

The Goober was impatient for the roll call to be over. Or, rather, for the roll call to reach Jerry Renault. Like everyone else, the Goober had finally learned that Jerry was carrying out a Vigil assignment — that's why he had refused to take the chocolates day after day, that's why he didn't want to talk about it with Goober. Now, Jerry could become himself again, human again. His football had suffered. " What the hell is the matter with you, Renault? " the coach asked in disgust yesterday, " do you want to play ball or not? " And Jerry had answered, " I'm playing ball. " All the kids knew the double meaning his answer conveyed because it was public knowledge now. He and Goober had had only one brief conversation about the assignment — in fact, it wasn't really a conversation. Leaving football practice yesterday, Goober had whispered, " When does the assignment end? " And Jerry had said, " Tomorrow I take the chocolates. "

" Hartnett? "

" One. "

" You can do better than that, Hartnett, " Leon said, but there was no anger, not even disappointment in his voice. Brother Leon was buoyant today and his mood had spread throughout the class. That's the way Leon's classes were — he set the mood and the temperature. When Brother Leon was happy everybody was happy, when he was miserable everybody was miserable.

" Johnson? "

" Five. "

" Good, good. "

Killelea… LeBlanc… Malloran… the roll call went on, the voices shouting out their sales and the teacher checking the names off on the sheet. The names and the responses sounded almost like a song, a melody for a classroom, a tune for many voices. Then Brother Leon called out " Parmentier. " And there was tension in the air. Parmentier could have called out any number and it wouldn't have mattered, it wouldn't have created any impact at all. Because the next name was Renault.

" Three, " Parmentier called out.

" Right, " Brother Leon answered, making the check against the name. Looking up, he called " Renault. "

The pause. The damn pause.

" No! "

The Goober felt as if his eyes were the lens for a television camera in one of those documentaries. He swung around in Jerry's direction and saw his friend's face, white, mouth half-open, his arms dangling at his sides. And then he swiveled to look at Brother Leon and saw the shock on the teacher's face, his mouth forming an oval of astonishment. It seemed almost as if Jerry and the teacher were reflections in a mirror.

Finally Brother Leon looked down.

" Renault, " he said again, his voice like a whip.

" No. I'm not going to sell the chocolates. "

Cities fell. Earth-opened. Planets tilted. Stars plummeted. And the awful silence.