LUTHER’S DECISION
Justin went to a rusty water pump and pumped hard for a couple of minutes until clear water came out of the spout. He drank some, then washed his face. Chip took over at the pump handle so Justin could stick his head under the cool flow of water.
“What are we going to do?” Chip asked when Justin came up for air.
“I don’t know.” Justin flopped down flat on the grass and closed his eyes. “Anybody got any ideas?”
Kate sat down beside him and started braiding some strands of grass together. They unfolded at one end as fast as she braided them at the other.
“That’s not working,” Lily said, sitting down beside her.
“I know,” Kate said. “Like my ideas. As soon as I start one, I think of why it won’t work.”
Chip sat down across from Kate and Lily. Little Billy lowered his head and butted Chip to let him know he wanted to be scratched between his new horns.
Luther, a little apart from the others, sat very still. The rabbit slipped through the grass and, with a hop, landed in Luther’s lap. He stroked it gently.
Kate kept braiding the grass. Chip kept scratching Little Billy’s head. Luther kept petting the rabbit. Even Lily seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Well?” Justin sat up. “You all had a million ideas about getting Little Billy out of Grimsted’s garage. How about some ideas on what to do now?”
“That’s not fair,” Lily muttered.
“What’s not fair?”
“How do you expect us to think of something? You’re the oldest.”
Justin stared up at the sky. “I know it’s my responsibility. I just don’t know what to do.”
There was another long silence, then Luther spoke up. “I already did it,” he said in a small voice.
“Did what?” Lily asked.
“Something,” Luther said, barely whispering.
They all stared at him, their small black friend holding a white rabbit so big it covered his entire lap and then some.
“Tell us, Luther,” Kate demanded. “What did you do?”
“Don’t be mad at me.” Luther folded over and buried his face in the rabbit’s soft fur.
The other four looked at each other. They all knew Luther was too young to have done anything on his own, and if he had, he surely would have told Chip, who was his best friend.
Chip crawled over and put a hand on Luther’s knee. “Did you tell?” he asked softly.
Luther’s face was still hidden in the rabbit’s furry back, so all they could see were the black curls on the top of his head. The head nodded.
Justin’s mind quickly ran through a list of people he might have told. Luther lived with his mother and his grandparents, and he trusted all of them. But if he had told his mom or the Wilsons, they would have phoned Mom right away. Who else was there? Ruby’s boyfriend, who just happened to be his math teacher? Oh please! Justin thought. Not Mr. Jackson!
“Luther,” he said, as calmly as he could. “Take your face out of that rabbit and look at me.”
Slowly Luther lifted his head.
“Who did you tell?”
Now Luther was shaking his head. “I didn’t—”
“Come on, Luth,” Justin raised his voice. “Who did you tell?”
Luther started petting the rabbit again. His small hand was shaking. “Uncle Booker.”
There was a moment of dead silence, then a sound like everyone taking in and letting out a deep breath at the same time. Justin was so relieved he couldn’t even speak.
“Who’s Uncle Booker?” Lily asked.
“My uncle,” Luther said.
“You said that. But who is he? Is he a black man?”
“Course he’s a black man!” Luther shouted. “You think I’d have a Chinese uncle like you?” Luther put his fingers up to his eyelids and pulled them so they slanted.
“I’m not Chinese,” Lily yelled, jumping to her feet. “I’m American! My uncles are Japanese-American, like me!”
“Well, Uncle Booker’s African-American, like me!” Luther yelled back. “And if you don’t like it, you’re a racist.”
Lily balled up her fist and headed for Luther. Kate caught her by the back of the T-shirt and jerked her down on her behind. “Sit down! And shut up, both of you. Nobody here’s a racist.”
“I just asked who Booker is,” Lily pouted. “And if he’s black. That’s not racist.”
“Booker is Ruby’s brother,” Kate said. “He’s a baseball coach at a college up in Atlanta.”
“He’s the best baseball player ever to come out of this town,” Justin stated.
“He hasn’t got any legs,” Chip put in.
Lily looked at them like they were crazy. “How can he be a baseball player without legs?”
“That was before he went in the army and stepped on a land mine in the desert and got his legs blown off,” Justin explained.
“Just the bottom part,” Luther said. “He’s still got the part above where his knees used to be.”
Lily cocked her head to one side, trying to take all this in. “So he can’t walk? Or drive a car? Or anything like that?”
Justin laughed. “Booker Wilson can do just about anything except walk. He’s got a wheelchair, and a van with special hand controls. He knows ten times more about baseball than my coach. And he’s—well, amazing.” Justin was remembering the way Booker could rock back in his wheelchair and put a ball across the plate exactly the way he wanted.
“Yeah,” Luther said. “Amazing.”
It occurred to Justin that Booker hadn’t been to visit his family since Christmas. Suddenly suspicious, he asked Luther, “When did you see Booker to tell him?”
“I didn’t see him. I phoned him.”
“When?”
“Last night. I thought he was coming home for spring break, but Mama said he was planning to visit his girlfriend’s family in Orlando. So I called him.” Luther looked around at their anxious faces. “After everybody went to bed. Nobody heard me!”
“What exactly did you tell him?” Justin asked.
Luther’s small dark fingers walked up the rabbit’s back and scratched between its long floppy ears. “I asked him to please come home. I told him I was in trouble and might go to jail.”
Justin groaned.
“Did you tell him it was about Little Billy?” Chip asked.
Luther shook his head.
“Did you mention us?” Kate wanted to know.
Again Luther shook his head. “I think his girlfriend was there. I could hear them whispering. I heard her say, ‘Don’t go, Booker.’ And kissy sounds.”
Normally that would have set them giggling, but nobody giggled now. Nobody even smiled.
“So, is he coming?” Chip asked.
“He said he would.”
“When?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“Can he just take off like that?” Justin asked. “What about his job?”
“I told you,” Luther said. “His spring break is before ours. He’s off all this coming-up week.”
Lily looked scared. “Will he tell our parents?”
“Don’t worry,” Justin said. “Booker won’t tell, and he won’t make us take Little Billy back. He’s the one grown-up in the world I know we can trust.”
What amazed Justin most was that he hadn’t thought of Booker himself.