Missing in Action by Dean Hughes

Author:Dean Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

CHAPTER 10

ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY KEN brought the radio to the kitchen door. He turned it up loud and played dance music. Most of the time he danced in front of Jay and stepped hard to the music so that he could get the beat right. But when Ken found a hot tune, he would grab Jay’s hand and show him some jitterbug tricks. He taught him some different ways to spin a partner or to twirl past her.

Jay still felt embarrassed dancing with a boy, but he liked the idea of showing up at the dance and not looking stupid. Ken kept telling him, “You’re catching on. You’re hearing the rhythm now, aren’t you?” And he thought he was.

Ken took the bus out to camp on Wednesday night. That meant he didn’t come into town to help the boys, and Thursday night was Mutual, so they wouldn’t be playing. Jay was kind of glad about that. He didn’t want his mom upset again. He did tell Ken, “I’m sorry about my mother.”

Ken was pulling on some wire, trying to fix an old fence. He grunted as he said, “It doesn’t matter. I’m used to all that kind of stuff. When a war’s on, people like to hate someone. And this time around, that turns out to be me.”

Jay stepped in and helped hold the wire while Ken drove a staple in the post. “What about Indians?” he asked. “Why do people hate them?”

Ken stepped back from the fence post and looked at him. “I can’t answer that one, Jay. It’s like everyone has to figure out someone not to like.”

Jay couldn’t understand that.

“Think about yourself. The first few days out here, you tried as hard as you could not to like me.”

Jay didn’t know that Ken had known that.

That night Jay walked over to the church by himself, but as soon as he stepped into the recreation hall, he saw Gordy with Eldred and Lew, standing about as far away from the dance band as they could get. Some of the band members were tuning up, and the drummer was still setting up his drums. A lot of kids were standing around in groups of four or five, girls together close to the band and boys mostly at the back of the hall. The weather had cooled off a little the last couple of days, but it was plenty hot inside the hall, even with all the windows open.

“Hey, Chief,” Gordy said as Jay walked toward the boys, “what about the game? Are we on for next Saturday?”

“Yeah. Ken went out to the camp, and the boys out there want to play us. He said we can catch the bus in front of Van’s Dance Hall and ride out there—so our parents won’t have to drive us.”

“My mother threw a conniption fit about me going out there, so I’ll just take off that morning and not tell her where I’m going. She don’t keep track of me anyways. The only way Dad’ll get mad is if I don’t get all my chores done.

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