“And he’ll turn us down flatter than a fallen cake,” Eddie Hale predicts.
“Well, it’s Jim’s idea,” says Mack. “I’m for trying anything once.”
Getting ahold of Ronnie isn’t so easy. Every time he sees us coming he runs around the block or cuts across lots. We’re just so much poison to him and he figures, since his father’s laid down the law about our using the hill, that we’ll pretty near scalp him if we get the chance.
But one snowy day we get Ronnie from in front and behind. His arms are full of groceries which he wouldn’t have been getting himself only the delivery truck is stuck in a drift and his mother has to have the food for dinner.
“Let me go, you guys!” he begs. “If you dare touch me, my Dad’ll...!”
“Listen, you!” says Mack, with his hand on Ronnie’s shoulder. “Don’t cry before you’re hurt. We’ve been trying to catch you for some time.”
“Y-yes, I—I know,” says Ronnie, trembling from head to foot. “D-don’t make me d-drop these eggs, or you’ll b-be sorry.”
“Oh, he’s got eggs!” says Mack, and winks at the bunch. For a minute I think he’s going to change his mind and pull something.
“You don’t like us, do you?” Tommy demands.
“Why—why—I certainly do.”