Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 It was Chet's sixth morning in the hospital when there was a knock at his door. He sat up, sure it was Mama and Papa. But it wasn't. Dewey, Sid, and Monty stood in the doorway. Uncle Jerry was right behind them. The hospital was a two-hour trip from Elm Hills. Had the guys really come all this way to see him? They all looked a little scared, and Chet felt nervous. Were they still mad at him? Chet raised

his hand and gave the briefest, tiniest wave. And just like that, the guys came barreling across the room, fighting each other for a spot on his little bed. Their jostling hurt his leg, but Chet couldn't have cared less. "I'll be in the hallway, kiddo," Uncle Jerry said. "I think that pretty nurse likes me." The door closed, and all the guys started talking at once. "They dynamited the creek!"

"A guy caught a shark in the bay, says it's the same shark!" "It was ten feet long!" "They cut open its stomach." "They found human bones!" Of course Uncle Jerry had told Chet all this. But he didn't stop the guys from telling him again. He liked the sound of their voices around him. He hoped they never stopped talking. They told him that Captain Wilson was a celebrity, that newspaper reporters were coming from around the world to talk to him. "Your uncle said your leg will be okay," Dewey said. "You're going to have a huge scar," Sid said. He sounded almost jealous. Chet hadn't looked too closely at his leg when the nurses changed his bandages. That was when it hurt the most, when they washed the wound. He had to keep his eyes closed tight and bite down on a rag to keep from screaming until the cleaning was done. A chunk of flesh was missing from his calf. He'd have more than a scar. He'd have a limp.

"Just like me," Uncle Jerry had said. "Won't slow you down a bit." "Minnie keeps asking about you," Dewey said. Chet wondered what Minnie would think of a boy with a limp. Sid moved a little closer to Chet. "We're sorry," he whispered. "We're sorry for everything," said Monty. Sid looked like he was about to cry. "It's my fault." "What?" Chet said. "You didn't put the shark in the creek." Sid laughed a little, and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "We should have listened to you," Monty said. "If we had gotten out of the water, you wouldn't have gotten bitten." "And if you hadn't come," Dewey said, "we'd be…" "But if I hadn't played that stupid prank," Chet said, "you would have believed me." "You saved me," Sid said. "You guys saved me," Chet said. He swallowed hard, and they all sniffled a little.

Then a hush came over the room. And in that quiet moment, Chet realized something: He and the guys would always be tied together. By the terrible things they'd seen. By what they'd done for each other. It was a while before Sid said, "We're calling a truce. No more pranks." As usual, nobody argued with Sid. It was settled. The guys stayed all afternoon, until Uncle Jerry poked his head in and said it was time to go. The guys lingered until Uncle Jerry shooed them out the door. "Wait for me," Uncle Jerry told them, and then he closed the door and came over to Chet's bed. "Your mama called the hospital," he said. "She and your papa will be here after dinner tonight." Chet smiled. "You know," Uncle Jerry said, straightening the sheet, "I had an idea, thought I'd mention it to you." He cleared his throat. "Maybe your papa would like to help me run the diner," Uncle Jerry said. "It's a busy place. I think he might enjoy it. We do well enough. And

I sure wouldn't mind having more time to myself." It took Chet a few seconds to understand what Uncle Jerry was saying. "Your papa might decide it's time to settle down," Uncle Jerry said. "I'm not sure he'll say yes, but I guess it's worth a try, don't you think? Chet opened his mouth to say something, but the words seemed to be all stuck together. So he just nodded. "Okay then, kiddo. It's a plan." Chet lay there a while after Uncle Jerry left. He thought about Mama and Papa. He couldn't wait to introduce them to the guys, and to Captain Wilson. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but it had been a long day. Before long he dozed off. He dreamed that he was an old man, sitting in a diner, telling a story to a gang of boys. He told them about a shark in a creek, a huge killer shark with bloody jaws and coal-black eyes. He described how the shark had chased him, how it scared him out of his wits. But in the end, the beast couldn't get him. Because Chet hadn't been