"He could scratch me, but he wouldn't-would you?" Tomsy asked the cat confidently.

Guess I got it all okay, all right. But what's so funny about playing checkers with a guy, anyway? What was that dumb Butch laughing at, hey? Probably thinks it's just a baby game, for country kids. Lucky I practically spent years playing checkers with Mom, when my leg was in the cast that time. I can beat this guy no matter how good the guy thinks he is. See? Must be one of them New York nuts.

Overhead the echoes-tires and feet, tires and feet-over and over again, bouncing against the vaulted walls of the grimy tunnel.

Tomsy was waiting for the uneven gait of a lame man-like in a movie, he thought. This might even turn out to be fun. Anyway, make a buckwhat can you loose?

Suddenly two pointed, highly polished brown shoes halted beside him. The folds of a raincoat, green in the uncertain light, brushed his shoulder.

Tomsy dropped the cat and stood up. He looked frankly into the dark face of the man beside him, wanting to say "But you ain't so lame," but finally compromising on "Hi!" and a smile. Looks like an actor or some kind of a character, the boy thought.

The man's dark eyes did not smile in return. Neither did his mouth, out of which came the words "Let's go!" in an urgent undertone. Tomsy thought what's the rush, but toiled dutifully up the slope, beside the man. They crossed the street and entered a shabby tenement that faced the park.

The man's face remained unconcerned, but Tomsy felt the pressure of his measured steps, his apprehension-as he quickly ushered the boy into the hallway. Tomsy felt puzzled all over again.

There were three flights of dingy, carpeted stairs to climb. The place smelt old, and Tomsy didn't hear a sound from behind any of the doors they passed as they climbed.

When they halted for breath on the second landing, Tomsy ventured "I like checkers. Used to play 'em all the time with my mom. Have you got like a real ivy set, or somethin' like that?"

The man, his head turned away from Tomsy, replied in a mumble, "Ivory? Yeah sure!"

"Boy!" thought Tomsy. "Sure don't say much!"

They reached the top landing, and the man swiftly unlocked the door, getting Tomsy_quickly inside by a pressure of his hand on the seat of the boy's trousers. Tomsy thought, angrily, "Get off me. What's he shoving me for? I'm going, ain't I? What's the rush?"

The man had left his unconcern in the hall. He secured the door with a chain and came intently toward Tomsy, who was trying to see out, between the partly shut slats of the window blind.

Tomsy started to turn-started to say, remembering his manners, "Nice place you got here." But before he could finish saying it the man had grabbed him and swung him about, and sitting on the unmade bed, was trying to hold him on his knees.

At the man's touch, Tomsy felt a stiffening of his dignity and his muscles, and he began to fling his arms and legs furiously about. His whole being was suffused with the need to tear himself free from the feeling of outrageous insult that filled his heart.

"Hey! What the-Lemme go!" he puffed, red in the face. "We're sup-

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