Boys Life

of labored breathing, and I smelled Clorox and Pine Sol. Rain began to tap against the window. Mrs. Callan said, “Cory, sit here,” and she stood up. I went to her. Mrs. Callan picked up one of Davy Ray’s hands; it was as white as Italian marble. “I’ll be right here, Davy Ray.” She summoned up a smile with a mighty effort, and then she lowered his hand to the bed once more and moved away.
    I stood next to the bed, looking through the oxygen tent at my friend’s face.
    He was very pale, with dark purplish hollows under his eyes. Somebody had combed his hair, though. The comb had been wet. He was all covered up, so I saw no indication of the wound that had brought him here. Tubes came out of his nostrils, and his lips were gray. His face looked waxen, and his eyes were staring right at me.
    “It’s me,” I said. “Cory.”
    He swallowed thickly. Maybe the green blip had picked up a little, or maybe it was my imagination.
    “You took a fall,” I said, and instantly thought that was the stupidest thing ever uttered.
    He didn’t answer. He couldn’t speak, I thought. “Ben and Johnny were here,” I offered.
    Davy Ray breathed. The breath became a word: “Ben.” One side of his mouth hitched up. “Numb nuts.”
    “Yeah,” I said, and I tried to smile. I wasn’t as strong as Mrs. Callan. “Do you remember much about what happened?”
    He nodded. His eyes were feverishly bright. “Tell you,” he said, his voice crushed. “Have to tell you.”
    “All right,” I said, and I sat down.
    He smiled. “Saw him.”
    “You did?” I leaned forward conspiratorially. I caught a whiff of something that smelled bloody, but I didn’t show it. “You saw the thing from the lost world?”
    “No. Better.” His smile went away as he swallowed painfully, then came back. “Saw Snowdown,” he said.
    “Snowdown,” I whispered. The great white stag with antlers like oak trees. Yes, I decided. If anyone deserved to see Snowdown, it would be Davy Ray.
    “Saw him. That’s why I fell down. Wasn’t watchin’. Oh, Cory,” he said. “He’s so pretty.”
    “I’ll bet he is,” I said.
    “He’s bigger than they say! And he’s a whole lot whiter, too!”
    “I’ll bet,” I said, “he’s the most beautiful stag there ever was.”
    “Right there,” Davy Ray whispered. “He was right there in front of me. And when I started to tell my dad, Snowdown leaped. He just leaped, and he was gone. Then I fell down, ’cause I wasn’t watchin’. But it wasn’t Snowdown’s fault I fell, Cory. Wasn’t anybody’s fault. Just happened.”
    “You’re gonna be fine,” I said. I watched a bloody bubble of saliva grow at the corner of his mouth.
    “I sure am glad I saw Snowdown,” Davy Ray said. “I wouldn’t have missed it. For nothin’.”
    He was silent, but for the soft wet rattling of his breath. The machine blip… blip… blipped. “I guess I’d better go,” I said, and I started to stand up.
    His marble-white hand grasped my own.
    “Tell me a story,” he whispered.
    I paused. Davy Ray watched me, his eyes needful. I settled back down again. He kept hold of my hand, and I didn’t try to pull loose. He felt cold.
    “All right,” I said. I would have to put this together as I went, like the tale of Chief Five Thunders. “There was a boy.”
    “Yeah,” Davy Ray agreed, “gotta be a boy.”
    “This boy could just think of it, and he could go to other planets. This boy could get the red sand of Mars on his sneakers, or he could skate on Pluto. He could ride his bike on Saturn’s rings, and he could fight dinosaurs on Venus.”
    “Could he go to the sun, Cory?”
    “Oh, sure he could. He could go to the sun every day, if he wanted to. That’s where he went when he needed a good suntan. He just put on his sunglasses and went there, then he came back brown as a berry.”
    “Must’ve gotten awful hot, though,” Davy Ray said.
    “He took a fan with him,” I said. “And this boy was friends with all the kings and queens of the planets, and he visited all their castles. He visited the red sand castle of King Ludwig of Mars, and the cloud castle of King Nicholas of Jupiter. He helped stop King Zanthas of Saturn and King Damon of Neptune from fightin’, when they got into a war over who owned a comet. He went to the fire castle of King Burl of Mercury, and on Venus he helped King Swane build a castle in the tall blue trees. On Uranus King Farron asked him to stay all year, and be an