Jelly Belly by Robert Kimmel Smith

Author:Robert Kimmel Smith [Smith, Robert Kimmel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-53309-8
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

15

I used to think that people who were criminals were all ugly and horrible looking. But there was Lem Samuels, the kid who was going to smuggle Richard up and back to Hartleyville for money, and he looked very ordinary. Blond hair, brown eyes, a couple of pimples on his chin. Lem looked like your ordinary high school kid who was old enough to drive a car. And his beat-up Chevy looked pretty ordinary, too. It was dirty and dusty, and the right rear fender was bashed in.

Getting Richard out of camp and into town with Lem turned out to be easy. Richard sneaked away from our group as we were walking to the big ball field to play softball. One second he was right behind me and then—zoom—he just made a sharp right turn and disappeared into the trees. It was about four in the afternoon, when Lem would be leaving to go home.

Hog, Max, and myself were all set to make excuses for Richard not being at the ball game, but no one even asked!

About five thirty, when we were back at the bunk and waiting to go to dinner, Richard came walking in. He winked at me and put his finger to his lips.

“Did you get the stuff?” Max asked, and Richard shot him a dirty look. “Oolitcay,” Richard whispered, glancing over at Brian and Fred. He walked outside and we followed.

“We’re all set,” Richard said when we were away from the bunk. “And Max, keep your mouth shut in front of Brian. I don’t trust him.”

“What’d you get?” Hog asked.

“Everything,” Richard said.

“Ooh! Ooh!” Hog squealed. Behind his glasses, his eyes were lighting up. “Where is it? I want some!”

“Nobody gets nothing till after supper,” Richard said.

“Did you get Hershey bars?” Max asked.

Richard nodded. “I got everything we said to get.”

“Oh, God!” Max said. “Unlimited candy bars!”

“Will you guys relax!” Richard ordered. “Now calm down and stop acting like babies. I’m the guy who took the chance and I’m in charge of the stash. And this time, nobody is going to take it away. But we’ve got to be very careful and act normal.”

“Can’t we skip supper?” Hog said.

Richard scowled. “That’s just what I mean, dummy. We’ve got Gregg and everyone else right on our tails. Now cool it.”

Supper turned out to be a very interesting meal. Because for once, we all knew that it was going to be followed by a real dessert. Naturally, we didn’t eat very much.

After supper, in our free time period, we took a walk to the big ball field. Just beyond it, and next to the gravel car park, was a rusty shed. They kept tools in there, and the lawn mowers. We turned the corner and walked inside the shed.

Richard went to the back, where there was a kind of bin. He pulled away a bunch of dirty rags and there it was! A couple of big shopping bags, loaded with goodies. Candy bars in six-packs! Corn chips! Pretzels!

Hog squealed and Max was groaning.

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