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A few more seconds and still no one got up to go outside and check on things. Everyone had just breathed a collective sigh of relief when Ron Canning, the PE teacher, stood up and strolled towards the window. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the children outside with little apparent interest.
Ohhhhh oh. Looks like that Tucker Casey’s causing trouble again.
That goddamn kid. Somebody oughta’ take a stick to him.
Is he talking to that John David Pritchard? You know, John David can be a real pill, too, ya’ know.
John David? Benjamin Pritchard’s boy? Nah, JD’s all right. Boys just get full of piss and vinegar sometimes. He comes from good people. I’ve bought every car I’ve ever owned from Benjamin Prichard. That Joe Erin Casey, though …
Now THAT kid. Boy, he’s headed for no good. I don’t reckon he’ll ever amount to nothin’.
Really? I thought he was doing better. Didn’t you say he’d been doing all his classwork recently?
Pshaw! What difference is that gonna’ make? I don’t even bother with him anymore. He’s already twelve years old! Can’t undo that many years of stupid.
And lazy.
I’m not sure if he’s stupid and lazy. I think he tries. It’s just he’s …
It’s just he’s Shirley Casey’s kid and ain’t nothin’ ever gonna change that. How many Casey kids even are there? I know he’s got the sister Rebeka and the brother Lucas from the same dad, I think, but then there’s all them other ones from them other dads. Jolene and the twins – what are they called?
Yep, I got the twins. Sadie and June. And the other little one that always stinks so bad …
With everyone’s attention on the scene unfolding in the playground, Miss Chapman ventured a look. She didn’t know the boys – her own students were only in the first grade, six turning seven that year – but their faces were familiar.
