The Wild Kid Read online

  “I am a stubborn person,” he agreed. He remembered himself on the cliff. The way he’d gotten up there, and the way he’d stayed there and waited. He hadn’t cried once. “Don’t baby me anymore,” he told his mother.

  “But you are my baby. My special baby.”

  “I’m almost thirteen years old. I do things. I can make a fire. I can walk in the woods. I’m a great swimmer. I can do things, Mom. I saved Kevin from drowning.”

  “I know you can do things,” she said. “I know you can, and I’m proud of you. I’m so glad to have you back.” She hugged him, a big one, and he hugged her back.

  32

  Sammy wished he had a picture of Kevin to show his mother and his friends in school. The kids in his class kept saying, “Where’s Kevin? Where’s the wild kid? We want to see him.”

  “When’s he coming?” Lauri Bower asked. She was his new girlfriend.

  “I don’t know, but I hope he comes soon,” Sammy said.

  “Are you going to bring him to class?”

  “You bet. Boy, oh boy, I sure will.”

  “Will there be a party?” Lauri asked. She was pretty. She’d just had her thirteenth birthday party, with thirteen candles, plus one for good luck.

  “For sure!” Sammy said. “A party for Kevin.” Kevin had never had a party. “This will be his first party ever,” he said.

  “Then he can only have one candle,” Lauri said. And everyone laughed at the thought of a wild kid with only one candle.

  Sammy wanted to tell Kevin the joke. He kept saying it to himself so he wouldn’t forget. There were a lot of things to tell Kevin when he came, more than he could hold in his head.

  So he wrote Kevin another letter. He didn’t know where to send this letter, either. The mailman didn’t deliver letters to trees in the woods. That was another joke to tell Kevin. He kept the letters in his desk. It made him feel good to write them. It was almost like talking to Kevin.

  * * *

  At night, Sammy would often stand by his window, looking for Kevin, looking to see if he was out there somewhere in the dark. He had the cot ready for Kevin and a pair of big pajamas folded up under the pillow.

  Sometimes he talked to himself, the way Kevin would talk. “Trouble, trouble. That guy is nothing but trouble. I’m waiting for him. And where is he?” And he’d shrug, the way Kevin shrugged.

  He remembered things they did together and how he saved Kevin from drowning. Kevin was scared, but Sammy said, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll save you.” And he did. And then he remembered how Kevin saved him, how he came to the cliff and said, “See you soon, buddy. Take care.”

  “See you soon, buddy,” Sammy said to the night. “Take care.”

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  Text copyright © 1998 by Harry Mazer

  All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster.

  Book design by Heather Wood. The text for this book is set in Giovanni Book.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Mazer, Harry.

  The wild kid / Harry Mazer.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary : Twelve-year-old Sammy, who is mildly retarded, runs away from home and becomes a prisoner of Kevin, a wild kid living in the woods.

  ISBN 0-689-80751-1

  ISBN: 978-0-689-84878-0 (ebook)

  [1. Mentally handicapped—Fiction. 2. Runaways—Fiction. 3. Feral children—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.M47397Wp 1998 [Fic]—dc21 97-42578