The Color War by Jodi Picoult

Author:Jodi Picoult [Picoult, Jodi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Retail, Romance, Short Stories
ISBN: 9781614520900
Amazon: B00GT3U0BQ
Barnesnoble: B00GT3U0BQ
Publisher: Byliner Inc.
Published: 2013-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Without knowing how it happened, Raymond became accustomed to the sound of starlings waking him up, instead of cars and sirens. He learned how to saddle a horse and how to tie square knots for rigging. The backs of his hands and his cheeks became sunburned. He relearned the front crawl, and with Melody’s help he swam longer and faster than he ever had before.

Raymond looked forward to the three days of the week when he had swimming with Melody. On those days, he was the first one out of his bunk; he walked a little more purposefully from activity to activity. He spent the time he wasn’t with her dreaming of the moments he would be.

The other kids in his cabin noticed. Matthew gave Raymond the nickname Phelps, after the legendary swimmer. Mrs. Knott, who treated him for his swimmer’s ear, said she was pretty sure he was growing a fin. Only James seemed to notice that this was about more than just swimming. One day, as they sat in a steamy tent, weaving bright yarn around popsicle sticks to make god’s-eyes during Arts & Crafts, James grabbed Raymond’s out of his hand and held it up to his chest, along with his own—a makeshift bikini top. “Looky here,” he sang. “I’m Melody the mermaid.”

Raymond yanked his ornament away from James. “Cut it out,” he said fiercely.

“You defending your girlfriend, Raymond?” James laughed. “Like some kind of white knight? Oh, wait, that’s right. You black.”

“Shut up,” Raymond gritted out. He looked to the edge of the tent, where the counselors were gossiping over a magazine. He could go to them for help, but that would make this an even bigger deal than it already was, and Raymond just wanted it to stop.

“You ain’t nothing special to her,” James said. “You just the charity flavor of the month. Next week, she might rescue a kitten from the SPCA instead of you.”

“She’s helping me with my swimming.”

“Yeah,” James said. “Is that your ticket out? You gonna swim yourself right off the streets?”

Raymond lifted his chin. “Maybe I will. There are tons of brothers who are famous athletes.”

“Name one swimmer,” James said.

Raymond couldn’t. “Just ’cause I don’t know one doesn’t mean it don’t exist.”

James looped some red yard around the crossed sticks. “You believe that,” he said, “and you an even dumber nigga than I thought.”

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