The Boy Who Lost His Face (8 page)

Mo turned off the hose. “I want to get a dog,” she explained, “but so far my parents won’t let me. But once they see this neat doghouse, they have to let me
get a dog, right? I mean, what good’s a doghouse without a dog?”

“Right!” said Larry.

David was glad there was a logical explanation.

They walked back over to the doghouse. He and Larry sat on the grass and leaned against it. Mo lay on her back in front of them, looking up at the cloudy sky.

“Why do they hate me so much?” she asked. “It’s not my fault I’m ugly.”

David waited for Larry to say something, but Larry kept his mouth closed.

“You’re not ugly,” David finally said.

“Yeah, right,” said Mo.

Again David looked at Larry, but he remained silent behind his blue sunglasses.

“It’s me they hate,” said David. “I used to be best friends with Scott—since the second grade—but he had to stop liking me in order to become popular. He has to prove to Roger and Randy that he’s not my friend anymore. I guess he has to make up for all the years we were friends by hating me now.”

“You were friends since the second grade?” asked Larry.

David nodded.

“I’ve never been friends with anybody for more than, I don’t know, a couple of months. My family’s always moving all the time. I’ve never even gone to the same school two years in a row.”

“That must be tough,” said Mo.

“I’m always the new kid,” said Larry. “When I was little it wasn’t so bad. It’s easy to make friends
when you’re a little kid. You just find some other kid and go play. But now it seems like it’s impossible to make new friends.”

“I’m your friend,” said David.

Mo laughed. “That’s only because Scott started hating you,” she said.

“That’s not true,” said David. “I’d be his friend anyway.”

“What if Scott wanted to be your friend again?” asked Larry. “You’d probably start hating me, too, just so you could be popular like them.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” David insisted. “I wouldn’t want to be one of them.”

“I would,” said Mo. “I don’t care if Leslie and Ginger are the two biggest pissants in the whole school. I’d trade places with them just like that”—she snapped her fingers—“if I could be pretty like them.”

David looked at Larry, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Nobody cares that they’re pissants,” Mo continued. “They’re beautiful. That’s all anyone cares about.”

“You would never be a pi—like them.” David blushed.

“I would too!” said Mo. “If I was beautiful I’d be the most revolting pissant this world has ever seen.”

David laughed.

“You’re not ugly,” Larry blurted out. “I mean, a lot of people probably think you’re very attractive.”

Mo made a sound like a horse. “Right,” she said. “My grandmother!”

“No, really,” said Larry. “In fact, there’s this boy at our school—I can’t say his name—but he told me he thinks you’re beautiful.”

“He’s probably gay,” said Mo.

Larry laughed.

“So what’s your excuse, David?” asked Mo. “Larry’s always moving and I’m ugly. How come you’re one of The Three Stooges?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said David. For a second he wasn’t sure if he should tell them, but then he said very matter-of-factly, “There’s a curse on me.”

He waited for Larry or Mo to react, but they didn’t.

“Okay, I don’t know that I’m really cursed,” he said. “But it sure seems that way.”

“I know what you mean,” said Mo. “Sometimes I think there’s a curse on me, too. It’s like no matter what I do, there’s always something that screws it up.”

“Yeah, like when I go to a new school,” said Larry. “I try real hard to be friendly and, you know, make a good impression, but something always happens. Like this year. It was my first day here, and some idiot isn’t watching where he’s going and spills his chocolate milk in my lap. How am I supposed to make new friends and be cool and everything when I’ve got chocolate milk all over my pants? Who drinks chocolate milk anymore anyway?”

“I haven’t had chocolate milk since I was a little kid,” said Mo.

“That’s what I mean,” said Larry.

David decided not to try to explain his curse to them. He didn’t think they’d believe him anyway. He didn’t really believe it himself.

He figured he was probably no different than Larry or Mo or anyone else. Maybe everyone feels cursed.

“You guys don’t know what a curse really is,” said Mo. “At least you don’t have periods! Now, that’s a curse.”

David and Larry blushed, then laughed to cover their embarrassment.

Mo stood up and stretched, obviously proud of herself.

Larry and David also stood up. “You know, Mo,” said Larry, “if you want your parents to let you have a dog, maybe you should change the name on your doghouse.”

Mo looked at Larry, then at the doghouse, then back at Larry. She smiled at him.

T
HE FOLLOWING
morning was cold, gray, and miserable. It wasn’t raining, but there was a heavy mist in the air. Rain would have been an improvement.

Miss Williams was wearing a shiny black plastic rain jacket. “Good morning, Mr. Ballinger,” she said as David stepped away from his locker. Her green eyes flashed at him.

“Good morning, Miss Williams,” he gallantly replied, glad that she seemed to like him again, after being so distant yesterday.

They walked side by side to Mr. MacFarland’s class. Neither said a word, until finally, just before they reached the door, he decided to take a chance. “Delightful weather we’re having.”

As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn’t. It was so stupid.

Miss Williams looked up at the gray and gloomy sky. She had a very quirky expression on her face. “Yes, quite,” she answered.

They entered the classroom and headed to their respective desks.

Yes, quite, thought David. It was the perfect thing to say.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her all morning, in homeroom, math, and on into recess. He relived their conversation again and again.

Good morning, Mr. Ballinger. Good morning, Miss Williams. Delightful weather we’re having. Yes, quite
.

Yes, quite
. It was perfect. She was perfect. Yes, quite perfect.

“David,” said Larry.

“Huh?”

“Earth to David,” said Mo. “Come in, please. Anybody there?”

“What?”

Larry and Mo laughed.

“He’s probably thinking about his
girlfriend,
” said Larry.

“Oooh, does David have a girlfriend?” asked Mo.

“Well, there’s a girl he likes,” said Larry. “Except he won’t tell me her name.”

David felt himself redden. He glared at Larry. Didn’t Larry realize how easily he could turn the tables on him? All he’d have to do was tell Mo that Larry was secretly in love with her. Or maybe—it suddenly occurred to him—Larry wanted him to do that.

“Oh, I bet I know who it is!” declared Mo. “Tori Williams! Am I right?”

Actually David didn’t know if she was right or not, but he figured she probably was. The last name was right.

“I’ve seen you and Tori making moon eyes at each other,” said Mo.

Larry laughed.

Well, now he knew her name.

“At least she’s not a snot,” said Mo. “Although you have to admit she is a little spacey.”

“Perfect for David,” Larry said with a laugh.

Tori Williams
, thought David as he headed to science. And Mo didn’t just say she saw him making moon eyes at her. She said she saw
them
making moon eyes at
each other
. Tori Williams. It was a nice name. Yes, quite.

He saw Miss Williams, Tori, at lunch. He had just gotten out of shop and was on his way to his locker. She was angling across the grass in his direction. Her arms were wrapped around her books, pressed against her chest. Her red hair hung on both sides of her shoulders.

She hadn’t seen him yet. He wondered if he should call her Tori. He kind of hoped she wouldn’t notice him. She was nice to him this morning and that was good enough. He didn’t want to press his luck.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ballinger,” she said.

“Good afternoon”—he paused—“Miss Williams” He couldn’t call her Tori.

She remained by his side as he continued to his locker. He glanced at her, and her green eyes flashed back at him. They both smiled. He wondered if this was what Mo would call “making moon eyes.”

He stopped at this locker. “My locker,” he told her

She stopped, too.

He turned the combination: 32 left, 16 right, 22 left. He pulled up on the handle but the locker didn’t
open. He tried it again, 32-16-22, but it still didn’t open.

He smiled sheepishly at Miss Williams. Tori. She shrugged.

He wondered if it had anything to do with the curse. But how? What did they do to Mrs. Bayfield that had anything to do with a lock or a locker?

He was about to try again when he realized his mistake. He felt himself blush as he explained, “That was the combination to my gym locker.”

“I do that sometimes, too,” said Miss Williams. Tori.

David tried again, this time using the correct combination. The locker still wouldn’t open. “What the …?” he muttered.

Tori Williams bit her bottom lip and shrugged. She pushed out one side of her face with her tongue.

He looked back at the locker, then felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was the wrong locker. His locker was the next one over. He didn’t dare tell her that. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” he said, stepping away from the locker. “I’ll have to go talk to the janitor.”

“You can put your books in my locker if you want,” said Tori Williams.

“No, that’s okay,” said David. “I’ll go talk to the janitor.”

She looked around. “Well, so long, Mr. Ballinger.”

“Bye, Miss Williams,” he said. She started to walk away. “Tori.”

She stopped. “David,” she said without turning around, then continued on her way.

He made sure she was gone, then went to the right locker and opened it. He put his science book and notebook away and took out his lunch.

Then it hit him. Why
didn’t
I put my books in her locker? That would have been perfect. Damn! That would have been great.

Yes, quite.

“H
ERE COMES
Stooge number three!” announced Roger.

David could feel everyone turn and look at him as he made his way across the lunchroom to where Larry and Mo were sitting. He just hoped he wouldn’t trip or something. Actually he did feel like a stooge for not putting his books in Tori’s locker.

Neither Larry nor Mo said a word as he sat down across from them. Roger and his friends were at the next table.

“Hi, Curly,” said Randy. “How ya doin’?”

David noticed that Ginger was wearing Scott’s fringed leather jacket. That meant Scott was now going steady with one of the most popular girls in school.

And all he had to do was hate me, thought David. If only I had put my books in Tori’s locker. That would have been just as good as her wearing my jacket. Even better!

“I like your jacket, Ginger,” said Mo. “It looks like it’s made out of genuine
rat
skin.”

David smiled. Mo could say anything to anybody.

Ginger stared at Mo.

“What’s the matter, Ginger?” asked Mo. “Rat got your tongue?”

Larry laughed.

“Gee, I’m sorry, Mo, but I can’t talk to you,” said Ginger. “I’m not allowed to talk to
boys.
”

Mo turned bright red.

“That shut her up,” said Leslie.

As soon as Roger and his friends left Larry cracked up laughing.

“What’s so funny?” said Mo.

“She said she wasn’t allowed to talk to you, but she had to talk to you to tell you that!”

“So?” demanded Mo.

“So she talked to you, when she said she couldn’t.”

“So?” asked Mo again.

Larry shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said.

“I know,” said Mo. “You don’t know anything.” She got up and walked away.

“W
HAT DOES
a cow say?” asked David.

Elizabeth concentrated very hard. She pressed her lips together tightly and said, “Mmmmm.”

“Moooo,” said David.

“Mmmm,” said Elizabeth.

David laughed. Then Elizabeth laughed too.

“Hi, Liz’beth,” said Ricky, entering her room.

“Hi, Ricky!” said David, exaggerating the words to encourage his sister.

Elizabeth smiled.

“Hey, David, can I ask you something?” said Ricky.

“Sure.”

“I was just wondering about something. We were talking about famous comedians today at school. Urn, who are The Three Stooges?”

David felt his stomach tighten. “The Three Stooges,” he said, trying to be as matter-of-fact as Ricky. “They’re some old-time comedians. They were always hitting each other and breaking things and stuff like that.”

He wondered what Ricky knew. Roger’s brother, Glen Delbrook, was in Ricky’s class.

“They kind of acted stupid?” asked Ricky. “Goony?”

“No. Well, maybe. It was more, just kind of, I
don’t know.… They were funny. It’s a kind of humor known as slapstick comedy. They were very funny; very well respected in their field.”

“Was one of them named Curly?” asked Ricky.

“Yes.”

“Did he have real curly hair?”

“No,” David suddenly realized. “He was bald. I guess that was the joke. They called him Curly even though he was bald. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” said Ricky. “We were just talking about comedians at school. Glen said his favorite comedian was Robin Williams, and I said mine was Woody Allen.”

David knew that Ricky knew that David liked Woody Allen.

“And then some stupid girl said her favorite comedian was Curly of The Three Stooges.”

“Oh,” said David. “Well, he was funny, too. Very well respected in his field. I think The Three Stooges are on TV late at night. We could tape it and watch it tomorrow.”

“No, that’s okay,” said Ricky. “I think I get the idea.”

“So what do you want to do?” asked David. “Want to play chess or something?”

“Nah,” said Ricky. “I got a lot of homework.” He walked out of the room.

D
AVID’S MOTHER
was making chicken and dumplings for dinner. She asked David to put the sack of flour back on the shelf for her.