The League and the Lantern by Brian Wells

Author:Brian Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indie Author Project

SPLITTAHHHSSSS

JAKE WINCED. “Ohhhh, not good.”

“Like I said, it looked like we were heading up for dinner with Gabe and we wouldn’t need it anymore.”

“How could you just—” TJ started, in shock.

“I was almost right. We almost did get dinner, didn’t we?” Lucy said.

“Well, yeah, but the key word there is ‘almost.’ Tell that to my stomach,” said TJ.

“Not that it wasn’t for a good cause, but you should have asked us first,” Jake said.

“You know what? You don’t get to lead anymore,” TJ said. “You have bad ideas. And you’re so sure you’re right. Dangerous combination: high confidence and bad ideas. I’m pretty sure that’s how Watergate happened.”

Jake couldn’t tell if Lucy was hurt or just irritated.

“You’re right,” Lucy said. “I’m sorry. I should have asked first. But the fact is we only have four dollars left. And we probably shouldn’t spend that on junk food. We might need it.”

They found a spot back from the sidewalk behind a thirty-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln holding an axe. They sat on the ground at the base of his boots.

“It sounds like the governor is at the end of the parade. Probably walking and shaking hands and stuff. We’ll try to get close and tell her we need help.”

“Won’t she just think we’re kooks and have her bodyguards whisk us away?” TJ asked.

“I think that’s a chance we’ll have to take, unless anyone has a better idea.”

They stood up to watch the rest of the parade.

“They sure like their Abe Lincoln here, don’t they?” Lucy said as a Lincoln High School band marched by.

“Land of Lincoln—his house, his presidential library, his tomb, the whole shindig. It’s all here,” Jake said.

“Shindig? Where do you get these words? Do you have some ‘Word of the Day’ app from the 1920s?”

“Old movies with Gabe. Three Stooges. That kind of stuff. I guess some of it sticks.”

“Well, all this Lincoln stuff definitely gives me a different picture of our sixteenth president,” Lucy said as a group of little kids marched by wearing Lincoln stovepipe hats.

“Wait until you see the Rail Splitters,” TJ said with a big grin.

“The what?” said Lucy.

“They’re legendary,” TJ said as he stretched to catch a piece of candy thrown from an antique fire truck. A little girl cut in front of him and intercepted it.

“They’re kind of hard to describe,” Jake said.

Next came a group of BMX bikers, all wearing Lincoln beards and stovepipe hats. They raced in circles and performed wheelies and flips for the crowd. They were followed by a group of assorted old men in tasseled caps, driving gokarts. Each man’s knees were pushed up around the steering wheel. The tight squeeze didn’t seem to bother them as they zipped in loops and figure eights along the parade route and squealed their tires for the crowd.

“Shriners,” Jake said. “They raise money for sick kids and hospitals.”

“And drive little cars in parades,” TJ said.

“Part of their deal,” Jake said. “They like to make kids laugh.”

Each time a float passed by

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