Rooster by Don Trembath Page A

uneventful. He’d gone out with Jolene on Friday night and told her all about the Strikers and his new partnership with Elma.
    â€œThis could be very good for you, you know,” she had said as they slowly made their way through the ravine. They were going to a movie and had plenty of time to get to the theater. “I actually think Elma’s a pretty good person.”
    â€œI actually don’t,” said Rooster. “But I have no say in the matter, so I guess I’ll get used to it.”
    â€œYou have to give her a chance, that’s all.”
    â€œThat’s what I mean. I have no say in the matter.”
    Later, after they had strayed off the paved trail and made out in a small clearing near the river, Jolene asked him a question. “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with Jayson?”
    â€œDoes anybody?”
    â€œHe came up to me in the library today and gave me this really dirty look and then walked away.”
    Rooster thought for a moment. He was enjoying himself too much to get worked up over anything. He hadn’t seen Jolene over the past few weekends and was savoring his time with her now. “Maybe he thought you were somebody else.”
    â€œLike who?”
    â€œI don’t know. A rugby player from St. Mary’s? The starting center on the St. Joseph High School basketball team?”
    Jolene gave him an elbow in the ribs. “Don’t be a jerk. He upset me. I thought he was coming over to study with me or say something nice.”
    â€œWas he wearing his sunglasses?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCould you see the tattoo on his arm?”
    â€œHe was wearing a shirt.”
    â€œHow do you know it was him then? Maybe it was someone else who just looked like him.”
    Jolene gave him another elbow and then tried to kick him before he led her off the path again.
    Jayson’s name came up again on Saturday night when Rooster returned to Puffs’ house. Jolene was out with her family, and Jayson was at a rugby tournament in Calgary, so it was just the two of them.
    â€œHey, do you know what’s up with Jayson?” Rooster said, flopping in a comfortable chair in the living room.
    â€œDoes anybody?” said Puffs, who was amazed that his joke had lasted this long.
    â€œJolene said he gave her a dirty look in the library yesterday.”
    â€œJayson did?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œOur Jayson?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThe Jay-dog?”
    â€œShut up. Do you know what it’s about?”
    â€œNot a clue,” said Puffs. “But I can tell you something that happened to me at the library yesterday.” He was grateful for the diversion.
    Rooster immediately settled in for another episode of what he referred to as Puffs’ Never-Ending Adventure Stories. They were usually tied in some way to his pursuit of Gracie Armstrong.
    â€œI went in there to do some math during my spare,” Puffs began, “and Gracie was sitting by herself at one of the tables. I smiled and said hi to her. No problem. She smiled and said hi back. Then she took off her jacket, that little white one she always wears? She had on this tight pink T-shirt underneath. Stunning. I kid you not. Absolutely stunning. I guarantee if you had seen her, you’d have done the exact same thing that I did.”
    â€œWhich was?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNothing?”
    â€œAbsolutely nothing. I didn’t say anything to her. I didn’t even go over there.”
    â€œBut you kept staring at her until she got Mr. Finkle to ask you to leave.”
    Puffs blushed. “It wasn’t even that. It’s just that every time I looked at her, she looked at me. I mean, I could have said the same thing she did: ‘Mr. Finkle, can you ask Gracie to stop staring at me all the time?’”
    â€œBut you wouldn’t do that because that would be a dream come true for you,” said Rooster.
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œSo