But he wouldn't add anything to the jumble. Placing his own words among these would be like placing himself among their authors. He had to live in the world, but he was also separate from it, as if he were a starship crewman beamed down and left behind. Or, as Mom had told Mrs. Boyle last week at Nimper's IGA, as if he were a devil child swapped at the hospital for the real thing. Jimmy guessed that meant there was a kid his age stuck with a bunch of demons in hell. Trade you, he thought.
He had almost decided there was no new graffiti when, on the south side of the tank, he found something written along a seam. This was in magic marker instead of spray paint, and it was too small to be seen from below. It said:
JIMMY BLACKBURN IS A PUSSY.
He rubbed the words with his thumb, and they smeared. A thunderstorm had come through yesterday evening, so the insult had been written since then. He began to have suspicions. Chrissie, Kyle, and Todd had all been goofing around beside the tower fence when he and Jasmine had come to the field. But neither Chrissie nor Kyle had the guts to climb the ladder.
Jasmine's voice rose to Jimmy in a shriek. He returned to the north side of the tank and looked down.
Todd had pulled in his kite, and now he was standing over Jasmine and thrusting the tiger face at her. He roared as the plastic touched her skin, and then he yelled, "I'm gonna eat your baby! I'm gonna eat your baby!" Jasmine held Doll-Baby close to her chest and bawled.
"Hey!" Jimmy yelled. "Big man!" The metal wall behind him rang. His words echoed from Clay Hill, and it was toward Clay Hill that Jasmine looked.
Todd held his kite in one hand and snatched Doll-Baby from Jasmine with the other. He rubbed Doll-Baby's head against the tiger's mouth. "It's eating your baby!" he cried. "It's eating your baaaabeeee!"
Jasmine, screaming, lurched to her feet and reached for Doll-Baby. Todd danced away, mimicking her cries. Chrissie and Kyle continued to try to launch their batwing.
Jimmy walked to the hole in the catwalk over the south leg. He wouldn't hurry. If he hurried, he might make a mistake going down the ladder. Besides, no matter how quickly he got to the field, Todd would be sure to stop torturing Jasmine before he arrived. Then, if Jimmy tried anything, Todd could claim self-defense.
Todd thought he was smart.
But if Todd were smart, he wouldn't be messing with Jimmy Blackburn.
When Jimmy walked into the field, Todd was back to flying his tiger. Jimmy only glanced at him on the way to Jasmine, who was sitting beside the paper kite again. She was kissing Doll-Baby.
"You okay?" Jimmy asked.
Jasmine looked up. Her face was wet. "He tried to eat Doll-Baby."
"No, he tried to bug you. You need to act like you don't care."
Jasmine glared. "He took Doll-Baby."
"You're getting too old for Doll-Baby anyway."
Jasmine stood and kicked Jimmy in the leg.
"Want to go home?" he asked.
"And never come back. I hate Todd Boyle."
"Waste of time." Jimmy looked down at the kite he had made. There was a hole where he had drawn the eagle, and the support sticks were broken.
"Todd Boyle stomped it," Jasmine said. "And he threw the string." She pointed at a white line that zigzagged off among the weeds.
"I can make another kite," Jimmy said. "I can make a hundred." He looked across at Todd, who was ignoring them. "Did he do anything else?"
"He said you wouldn't fight and he called you a pissy."
" 'Pussy.' Say it right or you'll get made fun of."
"Are you?" Jasmine asked.
Jimmy picked up his broken kite. "Am I what?"
"Are you going to fight Todd Boyle!"
"No." He started walking.
Jasmine toddled beside him, dragging Doll-Baby by one arm. "But he was mean to me."
"Lots of people are mean."
As they passed Chrissie and Kyle, Kyle said, "Jimmy, our kite won't go up." He sounded as if he were about to cry.
Jimmy stopped to help. As the batwing ascended, Chrissie said, "We have a new baby at our house." She spoke with defiant pride, as if the baby made up for not being able to fly a kite. "Her name is Tina, and she's only four weeks old."
"So?" Jasmine said.
"Be nice," Jimmy said, helping Kyle pay out the string.
"So my mom says Tina is the prettiest baby in the state," Chrissie said.
"Me and Jimmy saw her at the store," Jasmine said. "She looks like a mashed turtle."
Chrissie shoved Jasmine. "You take that back!"
Jasmine swung Doll-Baby at Chrissie's head.
"Chrissie, look!" Kyle shouted. The batwing was almost as high as Todd's tiger.
Jimmy pulled Jasmine away from Chrissie, and Chrissie begged Kyle to let her hold the string. Things blew over fast when you were little. When you got older, they didn't. Jimmy guessed that someday, they wouldn't blow over at all.
After Jimmy and Jasmine crossed the Potwin road, Chrissie and Kyle cried out behind them. Jimmy looked back and saw that the tail of Todd's kite was smacking the batwing. Kyle was trying to pull the batwing away, but it only bobbled in place. Todd was going "Moo-hoo-HA-HA-HAAAA!" Chrissie and Kyle began yanking on their string together.
Jimmy knew what would happen. The batwing's string snapped, and the kite tumbled backward until it crashed on the road. A farm truck ran over it. Kyle began to cry, and Chrissie screamed at her brother.
"That's what happens," Todd shouted. "That's what happens when you get help from a pussy."
For the first time since Jimmy had come down from the tower, Todd looked at him. And grinned.
Jimmy turned to resume the two-mile walk home. Jasmine went into the ditch, her shoes squishing on the wet ground at the bottom, and ran ahead. She thunked Doll-Baby's head on fence posts as she went.
"Won't that hurt her?" Jimmy asked.
"She likes it," Jasmine said.
As they passed the shattered batwing, Jimmy threw his own kite into the road with it. He kept the tail.
When Dad got home that evening, he came into the kitchen and said "Supper fixed?" to Mom. This was a sign of trouble. Jimmy tried to get out the back door.
"Where you think you're going?"
Too late. "Nowhere."
"Nowhere what?"
"Nowhere, sir."
"You get your chores done? You smash those cans like I told you?"
"Yes, sir. I put them in grocery sacks."
Dad looked as if he were trying to think of something wrong with that.
"He was good today," Mom said. "He took care of Jasmine this afternoon so I could get some things done."
Jasmine popped into the kitchen. "He was too pussy to fight Todd Boyle."
Jimmy heard his heartbeat in his head. He tried to open the door, but Dad gripped his arm before he could turn the knob.
"You say that word to your sister?" Dad shook Jimmy so hard that his shoulder popped.
Jimmy was mad. "I didn't do nothing."
Dad opened the door and dragged Jimmy across the yard into the garage. He propelled Jimmy facefirst against the pickup fender and told him to drop his pants.
Jimmy let his jeans and briefs fall around his ankles. Then he gripped the rim of the wheel well, palms up. He would not cry.
He heard Dad take the piece of fiberglass fishing rod from its nails. It whished through the air twice. Jimmy shut his eyes and clamped his teeth. He would not cry.
The rod hissed a third time and bit into his buttocks. He sucked air through his teeth.
"You gonna teach your sister nasty words?" Dad asked.
"No," Jimmy said. Eat shit.
The rod hit the backs of his thighs. Jimmy yelped before he could stop himself. Dried mud inside the wheel well crumbled between his fingers.