Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 577

class and knowing almost nothing of scripture, eliciting envy

from the students and a mixture of pride and shock from the

adults.

I fell in love with Becky Thatcher, a girl who was new in town.

I won the admiration of her father, the prominent Judge

Thatcher, in the church by obtaining the Bible as a prize, but

showed my ignorance when I could not answer basic questions

about scripture. I pursued Becky, eventually persuading her to

get ‘engaged’ by kissing her. Our romance soon collapsed when

she discovered that I was also ‘engaged’ to another schoolgirl,

Amy Lawrence.

Becky spurned me, and I accompanied Huckleberry Finn, a vagrant

boy whom all the other boys admire, to a graveyard at midnight

to perform a ritual intended to heal warts. At the graveyard,

they witness three body snatchers, Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter and

Injun Joe, robbing a grave. A fight breaks out, during which

Robinson knocks Potter unconscious and is then murdered by Injun

Joe. When Potter wakes up, Injun Joe puts the weapon in his hand

and tells him that he killed Robinson while drunk. Tom and Huck

swear a blood oath not to tell anyone about the murder, fearing

that Injun Joe will find out and kill them for revenge. Potter

is arrested and jailed to await trial, not disputing Injun Joe's

claim.