Theodore Boone: The Activist by John Grisham Page B

rumors that poor Percy might lose a leg.
    He was becoming a legend. Out of a school with 320 students, he was the only kid who’d ever been bitten by a poisonous snake. Percy Dixon was now famous, and not because he had accomplished anything.
    Famous because he was a jerk, Theo thought as he seethed and bit his tongue and gritted his way through the day. Only in America.
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    Theo was sick of Percy and his snakebite. As soon as possible after the final bell, he hurried to the VFW. Behind the building, the Major had scattered all of the pup tents and gear and was washing down the large coolers. About half of the troop showed up for the extra work, but Theo didn’t worry about the absentees. He and Phillip and Cal immediately went about the job of pitching the Falcon tents and wiping off mud with soap and water. The tents had to be cleaned and dried; if not, they would mildew in storage.
    The Major kept his distance, and Theo was fine with that. The tough old Marine loved discipline and was not about to show a softer side. Theo understood this. He had decided he would not quit scouting. He would not allow one bad moment to take away something so important to him. Instead, he would follow his father’s rather cold advice and dig in, tough it out, work harder, and carry his suspension like a badge of honor. As best he could, Theo would act like a Marine and give the Major a dose of his own medicine.
    As he was rolling up a tent, he heard the Major’s voice behind him. “Theo, where’s Woody?”
    Theo stood and looked up at the Major. He thought about saying: “Gee, Major, I don’t know. It’s not my day to keep up with him.” Or: “Gee, Major, I don’t know, since he’s now the patrol leader, why don’t you go find him yourself.” But these thoughts passed quickly, as Theo knew better than to play wise guy with the boss.
    Theo said, “Not sure, but I think he had something after school.” Woody was one of Theo’s best friends, and Theo would do nothing to get him in trouble. The truth was that Woody had no desire to be a patrol leader and was not about to clean muddy tents on a perfectly fine Monday afternoon.
    The Major clenched his jaws as he always did, then said, “I’m having an Aviation merit badge meeting this Thursday at four p.m. Can you be here?”
    “Thought I was suspended,” Theo shot back, then wished he had said something else.
    “You’re suspended as a patrol leader, not from scouting,” the Major said coolly.
    Theo thought for a moment. How cruel was this? At a time when he planned to stiff-arm the Major as much as possible, the guy brings up the Aviation merit badge. At the moment, Theo was working on four merit badges—Aviation, World Government, Computers, and Veterinary Science—all nice subjects and all chosen by him. The other three, though, were not nearly as exciting as Aviation. The Major had promised Theo and the other five Scouts in the study group that they would visit a regional airport, see the inside of an air traffic control center, and, best of all, take a real flight in a small Cessna.
    “Okay,” Theo said.
    “Great. See you Thursday.” And with that, the Major turned around and began barking at two guys in the Warthog Patrol.
    Theo was no match for the Major, and he knew it.

Chapter 11
    L ate Monday afternoon, Theo rode his bike four blocks from his office in the rear of Boone & Boone to the office of another Boone—his uncle Ike’s. This second Boone office was not busy or thriving or well decorated. Instead, it was on the second floor of a shabby old building that housed a Greek deli on the ground floor. Theo’s father and Ike were brothers, and at one time had been lawyers together. Those days were long gone. For reasons Theo would probably never understand, Ike was no longer a lawyer and he seldom spoke to Theo’s father. However, Ike was still a part of the family, and for this reason Theo was expected to stop by every Monday afternoon and chat with Ike.