A Boy at War by Harry Mazer

Author:Harry Mazer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

For the first time Adam was alone, and fear came. He’d been going and going—one thing and then another and then another. No time to think, no time to be scared. Now Davi’s bloodied face was in front of him . . . and Martin holding his chest . . . and himself in the water . . . and the Arizona, crumpled like a piece of paper.

He was tired. He was beyond tired. He was exhausted. He wanted to go home, to be in his own bed with a blanket over his head and not have to think or remember. It was all too strange, too awful.

He climbed down the ladder, back to the rowboat, thinking he’d row back to where they’d left the bikes and go home. But when he got in the rowboat, he couldn’t do anything.

He sat, head down, arms wrapped around his knees. Water slapped against the pilings. The boat rocked, and Adam rocked with it. Maybe he slept. A chill wind woke him. He smelled smoke and heard muffled explosions.

He opened and closed his hands. He blinked his eyes and turned his neck. Everything worked. Reaching around, he touched the edge of the wound. It was raw and it stung. He couldn’t believe he’d been shot. Soldiers were shot. Not kids. He looked down and counted his bare toes. Suzi, Doozi . . .

A small brown bird flitting among the pilings caught his attention. It was carrying bits of straw to a hole in one of the timbers. Maybe the bird had a nest there. Davi would know. He’d ask him when he got back.

“Sailor!”

Up on the pier a man, one arm in a sling, was calling to Adam. With the light behind him, he looked huge. “Sailor,” he called, “does that pile of crap hold water?”

“Yes, sir.”

The man came down the ladder one-armed, but fast, and dropped into the boat. There were officer’s bars on his collar. “Row,” he ordered.

“Sir—” Adam began to explain that he was just a kid, not a sailor.

“Sailor, shut your mouth. Get this slop bucket moving.”

Adam rowed out into the open. He didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to leave the safety of the pier. But it was just one more crazy thing in a crazy day. In the real world he knew what to expect. Sure, unexpected things happened, but most things happened in a regular way. Every day he got up, got dressed, and went to school. On Saturday he cleaned his room, and on Sunday they went to church. Not like this, where everything that happened was like nothing that had ever happened before.

“Row, sailor! Put your back into it.” The officer swore. He swore at the Japanese, at their bad manners and their lousy timing. “Sunday morning, they sneak attack us? For God’s sake, I was in bed with my wife. Row, sailor!”

“Where are we going, sir?”

“The Westy.” He checked his watch.

“What time is it, sir?”

“Will you row and shut up!” He adjusted his arm in the sling.

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