"John D. Fitzgerald - The Great Brain ReformsUC - 5" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fitzgerald John D)

didn't make a Christian out of you," I said.

Tom stopped, "And just what do you mean by that?"
he demanded.

"Jus^ what I said," I came right back at him. "I
know your great brain is working like sixty on how to
swindle Ju-nmie out of his baseball and Danny out of his
glove. And that, for my money, proves those priests didn't
make a Christian out of you."

"Did ^ou hear that, Frankie?" Tom asked.

"I heard,',' Frankie said.

Toitt shook his head sadly. "Can you imagine my
own brother saying I'm not a Christian?" he asked. "And
if I don't put a stop to it, he will blab it all over town.
Well, thp-e is only one way to put a stop to that, Frankie.
And that is to tell Papa and Mamma that J. D. is going
around telling people that I'm not a Christian."

"I didn't mean it exactly that way," I protested.

"You wouldn't have said it if you didn't believe it,"
Tom said. "Good Lord, J. D., do you realize what it is

going to do to Papa and Mamma when you start telling
people that I'm not a Christian? The adults in Adenville
will put two and two together. They will start believing
that Papa and Mamma must also be heathens and infidels.
Our family will be disgraced. We will have to move to
another town."

"I'm not going to tell anybody that you aren't a
Christian," I pleaded.

"I'm going to make sure you don't," Tom said, "by
telling Papa and Mamma all about it. Maybe if they take
away your allowance for about six months and give you
the silent treatment for a month, that will teach you not
to run around town telling lies about me." ,

"Please don't tell," I begged. I knew by the time Tom
got through he would make it sound as if I was going
around town knocking on doors and shouting, "My brother
is a heathen and infidel!" And I would be lucky if I only
lost my allowance for six months and Papa and Mamma
didn't speak to me for a month.