Farewell Summer ~ Ray Bradbury - Marimarister

―Coward,‖ she cried. ―And not only that,‖ she added. ―Scaredy-cat!‖
―Don‘t listen, Doug,‖ said Tom.
―Yeah, you don‘t have to take that,‖ said Charlie.
Douglas moved back another step, blinking.
Douglas held the plate in his hands and the children stood around him. He did not see
Quartermain wink at Bleak and jab him with his elbow. He saw only Lisabell‘s face. It was a
face with snow in it, with cherries, and water and grass, and it was a face like this late afternoon.
It was a face that looked into him. He felt as if, somehow, she had touched him, here, there, upon
the eyelids, the ears, the nose. He shivered. He took a bite of cake.
―Well,‖ said Lisabell. ―Got nothing to say? If you‘re scared down here, I bet you‘re even
more scared up there.‖ She pointed upward, toward the far edge of the ravine. ―Tonight,‖ she
said, ―we‘re all going to be there. I bet you won‘t even show up.‖
Doug looked from her up to the top of the ravine and there stood the haunted house
where, in the daytime, the boys sometimes gathered, but where they never dared to go at night.
house.
―Well,‖ said Lisabell. ―What are you waiting for? Will you be there or not?‖
―Doug,‖ said Tom. ―You don‘t have to take that. Give her what for, Doug.‖
Doug looked from Lisabell‘s face up to the heights of the ravine and again to the haunted
The cake melted in Douglas‘s mouth. Between looking at the house and trying to decide,
with the cake in his mouth, sugar melting on his tongue, he didn‘t know what to do. His heart
was beating wildly and his face was a confusion of blood.
―I‘ll . . .‖ he blurted.
―You‘ll what?‖ taunted Lisabell.
―. . . be there,‖ he said.
―Thatta boy, Doug,‖ said Tom.
―Don‘t let her fool you,‖ said Bo.
But Doug turned away from his friends.
Suddenly a memory came to him. Years ago, he had killed a butterfly on a bush,