Robert Cormier

"Better be careful, Jason warned himself. Why should I be careful? A nagging thought just below the surface of his mind gave him an uneasy feeling again, the feeling that something was wrong, that things were not what they seemed. Was that his imagination or just being in this small office, no air-conditioning, not even an electric fan? For some reason, the blank walls bothered him. No pictures. And no windows. I want to get out of here. He realized that he could get out of there. He could simply get up and leave. He didnt have to even speak to anybody. Hadnt they said this was voluntary? He was a volunteer. Well, he didnt feel like being a volunteer anymore. He wanted to go home."

"Dont blame me," he said, surprised at her reaction. "Blame human nature. I didnt make the world."

"The Goober looked frightened. He was one of those kids who always wanted to please everybody. The guy who never got the girl but worshipped her in secret while the big shot hero rode off in the sunset with her in the end."

"The assignment must fit the kid. Thats the beauty of it, Obie." Obie waited a minute or two and couldnt resist asking, "You running out of ideas, Archie?" The great Archie Costello running dry? The possibility was staggering to contemplate. "Just being artistic, Obie. Its an art, you know. Take a kid like this Renault. Special circumstances." He fell silent. "Put him down for the chocolates."

"Obie was bored. Worse than bored. He was also tired. He went to bed tired and woke up tired. He found himself yawning constantly. Most of all, he was tired of Archie. Archie the bastard. The bastard that Obie alternately hated and admired."

"The Vigils kept things under control. Without The Vigils, Trinity might have been torn apart like other schools had been, by demonstrations, protests, all that crap."

"Emile will serve you well. Hes an animal, but animals come in handy if theyre trained right." "Right," Bunting said, but thinking, When youre gone, Archie, Ill be boss and Ill chose my own right arms. "Bunting," Archie said, looking up again, "Ill be telling Emile about it. Emile Janza will be looking forward to his job as your assistant. And Emile doesnt like to be disappointed. Hes very unpredictable and gets very physical when hes disappointed. Never disappoint Emile Janza, Bunting."

"Archie waited a beat- in strict command of the room, the silence almost unbearable- and said, "Everything in Brother Eugenes room is held together by screws. The chairs, the desks, the blackboards. Now, with your little screwdriver- maybe youd better bring along various and assorted sizes, just in case- you start to loosen. Dont take out the screws. Just loosen them until they reach the point where theyre almost ready to fall out, everything hanging by a thread..." A howl of delight came from the guys- probably Obie, who had gotten the picture, who could see the house that Archie was building, the house that didnt exist until he built it in their minds."

"Okay," Jerry had said. Now, standing here, one leg half asleep, nausea threatening his stomach, the night chilling his flesh, Jerry wondered if he hadnt lost the moment he said okay."

"So?" "So- remember? His orders were not to sell them for ten school days. Okay. So the ten days came and went and hes still saying no." "So what?" This is what infuriated Obie- the way Archie tried so hard not to be impressed, to always play it cool. You could tell him that The Bomb was going to be dropped and hed probably say "So what?" It got under Obies skin, mostly because he suspected that it was an act, that Archie wasnt as cool as he pretended to be. And Obie was awaiting his chance to find out."

"I dont know how you do it, Archie," Carter was forced to admit. "Simple, Carter, simple." Archie reveled in the moment, basking in Carters admiration, Carter who had humiliated him at The Vigils meeting. Someday hed get even with Carter but at the moment it was satisfying enough to have Carter regarding him with awe and envy. "You see, Carter, people are two things: greedy and cruel. So we have a perfect setup here. The greed part- a kid pays a buck for a chance to win a hundred. Plus fifty bucks of chocolates. The cruel part- watching two guys hitting each other, while theyre safe in the bleachers. Thats why it works, Carter, because were all bastards."

"Notices for Vigil meetings were always posted on the main bulletin board in the first-floor corridor, directly across from the Headmasters office. Archie was entertained by the location of the notice right under Leons nose. The notice was simple, involving the words TRINTY HIGH SCHOOL at the top of the board. On the day of the meeting, the Y of Trinity was inverted. Which made it look, as Archie said, like an upright finger. Thus, the Vigils giving the finger to the world while calling a meeting. Thats what the upside-down Y was called: the Finger."