1966 WInter 2013

spy gadget was going to be.

We weren’t fascinated at all. We were, instead, dubious. We weren’t dopes.

We knew when something stank of a lie.

6RPHKRZ /DUU\ DQG , Ă€JXUHG RXW ZKHUH 'LFNLH OLYHG DQG RQH 6DWXUGD\ ZH URGH RXU ELNHV RYHU WKHUH MXVW WR KDYH D ORRN VHH The house was a modest frame house in need of paint, the clapboards weathered gray in spots. The lawn had dirt patches where nothing grew but tree roots, snaking along the top of the ground, and there was no sign that anything like Dickie claimed was going on in that house at all. We went up to the front door and knocked, but no one answered. “Sentries,â€? Larry said with a smirk, and we went back out to the sidewalk and pushed our bikes from the curb and pedaled away.

Come Monday morning, when Mrs. Malley invited weekend stories, my hand shot up, and lo and behold, she called on me. “Larry and me,� I began, and then Mrs. Malley corrected my grammar. “Larry and I,� she said.

I took a breath and started over. “Larry and I,� I said. “Him and I went over to Dickie’s house.�

Mrs. Malley smiled, so caught up in the thought that we’d done Dickie a good turn that she was willing to overlook my further confusion of the nominative and the objective case. “Well, wasn’t that nice?� she said. “And what did you boys do for fun?� “Nothing,� Larry said. “Yeah,� I said. “Nothing. Dickie wasn’t home. And you know what else?

There weren’t any sentries there. Not like he always says. It was just a crummy ROG KRXVH Âľ +HUH , JRW YHU\ VHULRXV DV LI , ZHUH Ă€OLQJ WKH Ă€QDO ZRUG RQ WKH PDWWHU ´,I \RX DVN PH WKHUH¡V QR VS\ JDGJHW LQYHQWLQJ JRLQJ RQ LQ WKDW KRXVH Âľ I stopped there, short of using the word, “liar.â€?

That’s when Dickie spoke up. His voice was low and even, and he talked slowly as if he were explaining something to a dummy. “Our sentries were inside with me. I saw you. I saw both of you. I was watching out the window.�