STAND BY ME: Chapter 13
Chapter 13
ACE MERRILL
We all jump when we hear the voice. Vern screams in surprise. Later, he tells me that for one second he thought the voice came from the dead boy. Across the wet ground, near the trees, Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers stand together. “Hell,” Eyeball says. “That’s my little brother.”
Chris looks at him in shock. “Go away, Eyeball,” Chris says. “We found him.” “It doesn’t matter,” Ace says calmly. “We’re going to report him.”
“No, you’re not,” I say. Suddenly I feel angry. This time, the older boys are not going to take something from us. “There are four of us.”
More boys step forward from the trees - Vince, Charlie, Billy, and the others. Now there are many more of them than us. Ace smiles. “Here we all are, so you just…” “VERN!” Billy Tessio shouts angrily at his brother. “You heard us talking! You were under the porch, you little shit!” Vern looks scared. Charlie steps forward. “I should beat the puke out of you,” he says.
“Yeah? Come on, then!” Teddy shouts suddenly. His eyes shine wildly. “We’ll fight you for the body!” Billy and Charlie move forward, but Ace stops them with a hand. “Listen, you guys,” Ace says patiently. “There are more of us. We’re bigger. We’ll give you one chance to disappear. I don’t care where you go. Just leave.”
Eyeball laughs. The others smile. “Because we’re taking him,” Ace continues. “You’ve got two options. You can leave, and we’ll take him. Or you can stay, we beat the piss out of you, and then we take him. Anyway, Charlie and Billy found him first.”
“They were too scared when they found him!” Teddy shouts back. “They didn’t do a damned thing!” Teddy starts to copy Charlie Hogan’s voice, in a high tone. “We never should have stolen that car! We never should have gone to the Back Harlow Road! Oh, Billy, what are we going to do? Oh, Billy, I think I just puked on my shoes!”
Charlie steps forward again, angry. I look quickly at Ray Brower. He stares calmly up into the rain with his one good eye. Ace turns to me. “What do you say, Gordie? You must have some of your brother’s good sense. Tell your little buddies to go. I’ll let Charlie beat up the kid with the glasses, and that’s it. What do you say?”
He should not have said anything about my brother, Denny. That pissed me off. I want to explain everything. I want to tell him we really found the body. I want to tell him about the train on the bridge; about Milo Pressman and his fearless, stupid dog; about the leeches. I want to say, “Come on, Ace, be fair.” But he mentioned Denny. I do not feel like being reasonable now.
Instead, I hear myself say something else. Something that means certain death for me: “Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood.” Ace’s mouth forms a perfect “O” of surprise. Everyone goes silent. They all stare at me. Even I cannot believe what I have said. Then Teddy shouts happily, “Yeah! That’s right, Gordie! You tell them, man!”
I stand still, shocked. I cannot believe what I have done. I feel like an actor who has said the wrong words in a play. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see Chris sticking his hand inside his backpack. I do not understand what he is trying to do.
Ace’s face changes. His smile disappears. “Okay,” he says softly. “Let’s get them.” He looks at the others. “Don’t hurt anyone except Lachance. I’m going to break both of his arms.” They begin to walk toward us. Vern and Teddy move closer to me. Teddy looks ready to fight. Vern looks desperate and afraid. Ace and his gang walk forward in a line through the mud.
The body of Ray Brower is at our feet. I get ready to fight. And that is when Chris uses the gun he took from his father’s desk.
God, what a wonderful sound that is! Charlie Hogan jumps back in fear. Ace Merril turns quickly to look at Chris. His face has that “O” on it again. Chris stands there, pointing the gun at Ace. His face is pale, but his eyes are strong. Eyeball looks amazed. “That’s dad’s gun,” he says. “He’s going to beat the shit out of you for taking his gun.” “That’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen to you,” Chris says.
Chris is angry now. He shouts. “You know Charlie and Billy didn’t want to come here at first! They told Ace, and he did all the thinking!” His voice is full of anger. “But you’re not getting him! You’re not taking him, do you hear me?”
Ace smiles again. “Now listen,” he says. “Be careful with that gun. You might shoot yourself in the foot. You don’t have the courage to shoot a mouse.” Ace begins to walk forward again. He has a calm smile on his face. “I’m going to make you eat that gun.”
Chris does not move. “Ace,” he says quietly, “if you don’t stop, I will kill you. I swear to God.” “You’ll go to jail,” Ace says. He keeps walking. The rest of us are frozen. We watch and wait. Ace doesn’t think a twelve-year-old kid will shoot him. I think Chris will shoot him. I am sure of it. In those few seconds, I’m absolutely certain there will be terrible trouble. Killing trouble, maybe.
Then Chris says softly, almost with regret in his voice, “Where do you want it, Ace? Arm or leg? I can’t decide. You decide for me.” Ace stops. Now I see it on Ace’s face. Terror. Real fear. “All right,” Ace says slowly. “But you know what’s going to happen to you, don’t you?” “No, I don’t,” Chris says calmly. “You little shit!” Eyeball says loudly. “I’m going to put you in the hospital,” Ace says.
“Kiss my ass,” Chris tells him. Eyeball yells out and moves forward. Chris fires a bullet into the ground a meter in front of him. Eyeball jumps back. “Okay,” Ace says. “Now what happens?” “Now you guys are going to get back into your cars and go back to Castle Rock,” Chris says. “You’re not taking him.” He touches Ray Brower lightly with his foot. “Do you understand?”
“We’ll get you,” Ace says. He smiles again. “You know that, right? We’ll hurt you. I mean it. You do know that.” “Oh, why don’t you get the… The storm suddenly grows even stronger. We cannot hear the words that Chris is saying. But instead of rain falling, it is hail. Big, hard frozen balls of ice hit the ground, the trees, and our bodies.
The sound is unbelievable. The hail stones begin to hit me. They hurt. It’s like a giant evil creature is throwing them, trying to hurt us. But the hailstones begin to hit Ray Brower’s face too, making a terrible sound.
Vern runs first. He screams and runs up the bank. Teddy follows him. Some of the older boys move back into the trees for protection from the hail stones. But Ace stays. He begins to smile again. “Stay with me, Gordie,” Chris says quietly. “I’m here,” I say. “Get out of here,” Chris tells Ace. Ace steps forward again.
What are you going to do?” he says. “Shoot us all?” “No,” Chris says softly. “Just you.” Ace stops again. He looks back at his gang. “We’ll see you later, then,” he says. “We won’t forget this. We’ll get you. We’re going to enjoy getting you, Chambers. We’ll…” “Get the fuck out of here!” Chris suddenly screams, pointing the gun at Ace.
“Come on, boys,” Ace says to the others. He turns to leave. He looks over his shoulder at Chris and me. “We’ll see you later.” They leave. They disappear into the trees. We stand perfectly still. The hail stones fall on us hard. It is making piles around our feet like snow. We hear car engines in the distance. Chris walks a few steps and looks to see if they are gone. Then he comes back.
“We did it,” he says. I was shaking in fear. We look at each other warmly for a moment. Then we both look down. We both take a step back in surprise. Ray Brower’s eyes have become giant white circles. A second later I understand. But understanding does not take away my horror. His eyes are full of white, round hailstones. Water is running down his face. It looks like he is crying. We say nothing.
Then we hear branches cracking behind us. I turn quickly. But it is only Vern and Teddy. “What do we do now?” Chris asks. He is still looking at the body. “We’re taking him back, aren’t we?” Teddy says, confused. “We’ll be heroes, right, man?” Chris walks over to Teddy and suddenly pushes him hard. “Shut up!” he shouts. Teddy falls into the mud. “You shut up, you pussy!”
“It was the storm!” Teddy cries. “I wasn’t scared of those guys. It was the hail! I’m scared of storms! I can’t help it!” Teddy starts to cry. Chris turns to Vern. “What about you?” he asks. “Are you afraid of storms too?” Vern shakes his head quickly. He is surprised by Chris’s anger. “No… I thought we were all running.” Chris looks angry. Then he turns to me.
“We’re going to carry him back, Gordie” he says. “If you say so, Chris. But what what if those guys…?” “I don’t care about those guys!” Chris screams. “You’re all a bunch of pussies!” “Chris, maybe we should leave him. Let’s just leave him here. Anyway, Ace could call the police, for revenge. ” “I DON’T CARE!” he shouts. He jumps forward at me.
But one of his feet hits Ray Brower’s body. He falls to the ground. He lands in the exact same position as Ray Brower is lying. I look in fear at Chris’s feet - to make sure his shoes were still on. Then Chris starts to cry and scream. He hits the wet ground with his hands.
We all stare at him in amazement. No one has ever seen Chris Chamber cry before. After a moment, I turn away. I climb up the bank. I sit on the tracks. Vern and Teddy come and sit beside me. We sit there in the rain.
