Kings of B'more by R. Eric Thomas

Author:R. Eric Thomas [Thomas, R. Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

1:14 p.m.

Harrison felt Linus wrapping him in a bear hug, pulling him out of his reverie.

“How would you feel about a pool?” Linus was asking. How much time had passed? How many people had become fathers while Harrison was reminiscing about Rahul? Harrison wriggled out of Linus’s grasp and turned to face him. Fab and Phil were standing on either side of him like backup singers.

“What pool?”

“We’re going swimming,” Fab replied, providing no answers to the question asked.

Harrison looked askance at Linus. You don’t know how to swim.

It’s a pool; we can hang out, Linus’s raised eyebrows replied.

“There’s a public pool in Druid Hill Park,” Fab said. “It’s walking distance. Phil goes there every day.”

“I’m trying to live on a boat after graduation,” Phil informed Harrison. “I have to get my sea legs.”

Was she walking on the water?

“We just have other things we were going to do today,” Harrison said.

“Well,” said Linus, “we’re mostly done, right? We can stop by the pool.” After a moment, he added, “We said we were just going to do whatever we wanted. No agenda.”

Suuurrre. Okay. But it did seem like Fab and Phil had a little plan going on. What one might call a schedule. A tiny touch of an agenda. Une petite programme.

“Okay, but I don’t have my bathing suit. We’ll have to stop by my house first.”

“None of us have bathing suits,” Fab said, spreading her arms wide, seemingly to display that she wasn’t hiding a bikini up her sleeve like a magician. “We’re gonna stop by our friend’s store and thrift some shorts and towels. It’s fine. The folks at Maybe This Time always hook us up.”

Linus nudged Harrison. “My treat.”

Fab and Phil went to go pee. Linus shimmied his shoulders to the beat of a song playing far away as he carved a path up the street to a pop-up run by a bookstore café. He plopped into a folding chair at a small table and drummed his hands on his thighs.

“This is everything,” he said. He looked up at Harrison and grinned.

Harrison slid into the chair next to him. “You’re having fun.”

“Baby boy! When I said that this is everything, I meant that this is everything. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah,” said Harrison.

“Good,” Linus said. He drummed on his thighs again and craned his neck to take in the scene. People were sitting at the other tables, eating, or talking, or drinking. Others browsed a long table holding stacks of used books.

“You’re right,” Linus said.

“About what? I mean, I know I’m right, but which thing are you talking about?”

“You’re ridiculous. I mean about smooching. I should, right? Like, when I get to South Carolina, I’m not going to know anyone. I probably won’t make any friends at school, and good luck getting Aunt Bird and my dad to let me leave the house. I don’t even know if there’s a bus that I can take. So I should smooch on Ferris Day.”

“Yes!”

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Harrison asked.

“Isn’t this day

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