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out of the pocket of the first Negro, who by now had begun to snore loudly. We ll take your Klectokon
out of this. How would that be?
I knocked the son of a bitch cold, Lou groused.
Yes, you did. I ll make a full report on it. I ve never seen anybody run the way you did.
Lou thought about it, remembering how it had felt to gain on the nigger, arms pumping, shoes pounding
the pavement. Sure, he was angry, but only because of the way things had turned out. He realized that
he d been more excited tonight than he d been in years. Nothing in baseball could match it!
As far as we re concerned, you re in, am I right, boys?
Sure he is, Arn said.
Would you be willing to take an oath right now?
Why the hell not, Lou thought. All right, sure.
Raise up your right hand. Do you swear that you will keep secure and to yourself the secret of a
Klansman when same is committed to you in the sacred bond of Klansmanship?
I do.
The other men came around him, smiling and slapping him on the back. On the floor, the Negro snored
loudly, and tried to turn over. The truck bounced over a hole in the road.
We ll drop you home, Lou. Next time I promise you ll see the whole operation. Everything.
Lou nodded. I m on Lyndale an
You don t have to tell us, Lou. We already know where you live. We know everything about you.
How
Every Klansman s a detective, that s how. We keep our eyes open and our mouths shut. That s what
you ve got to do from now on, too. You can t let your brothers down, Lou. You ve got to lock it in tight,
except when it comes to the lodge. Understand? That way, we stay ahead of the enemy. That way, we
can also keep em close. You re one of us now, Lou. We count on you. And you can count on us.
Sure, I can, Lou said.
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Chapter
21
Lucille Lund sat under the dim
yellow light of the floor lamp and
worked on her latest embroidery
project, the head of a collie dog
that Shirley had traced out of a
magazine for her.
At one time Lucille had been quite fond of dogs, and her family kept several collies at the farm in
Owatonna when she was a girl. Of course, hardly anyone had a dog these days. Nearly all of them had
died in the first wave of the sickness in 19. That was the first really sad thing people had to face.
Somehow it had been easier to ignore all the human death, and concentrate on the tragedy of the dying
dogs. And you could think about them now and remember what nice animals they were. And Shirley had
done a fine job with the drawing. That girl was a good artist. There was no telling what she d be capable
of, if only & Well, Lucille never let her thoughts about Shirley go beyond that. You had to make do with
the present now, and that was good enough. She had nice boarders, and Kal certainly was very sweet,
and what with Lou and Shirley, and Danny, who treated them like a good older brother would, it was
almost like living with family, lots better, in fact, than plenty of families she d seen.
She heard footsteps on the porch and then the screen door bang, everything sounding fast and too close
together.
Lou? she said, peering out toward the stair landing. Is that you?
Yes, Mrs. L., Lou said from the darkness.
Come here.
Lou moved to the edges of the lamplight. He was holding his arm.
Did you have a nice time tonight?
Sure, Mrs. L.
Did you get anything to eat? There s leftovers on the stove if you want them.
I m awfully beat, Mrs. L. I think I m just gonna go to bed.
What s wrong with your arm?
Nothin . Nothin s wrong with it He backed away into the dark again but she was on him like a cat
on a baby bird, and made him let go of the arm.
Lou! That s a terrible cut! How in the world did you get cut like that?
I got spiked, Lou stammered. Fillin in at short an a fella came into second with his spikes up. Halsey
patched me up, but the bandage was bothering me tonight on account of how hot it was, so I took it off!
You come here into the kitchen, Mrs. Lund ordered. She made him sit at the table and turned on the
weak electric lights, then struck a match and lit the white gas lantern she kept above the icebox. Lou s
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