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Show page 178 THE FOXTAIL J e r r y Weeks l a t e r i n l i f e became S t a t e Superintendent of Education, but he never forgot the day in our town when he was fourteen and went to the r i v e r swimming with Snook Howington and Monk Evans. It was the day he l o s t h i s dog Spot and the day he learned t h a t an emblem of esteem - in t h i s instance a f o x t a i l - can be more important t o people than friendship. Snook Howington had a f o x t a i l on the mudguard of h i s bicycle. He wailed h i s s i r e n , made the f o x t a i l stand s t r a i g h t out in the wind, and y e l l e d , "Look at t h a t old f o x t a i l !" I t was a good f o x t a i l . Good f o x t a i l s were hard to come by. But Snook played h i s possession of i t to the h i l t ; he wanted to be l e a d e r , always. Snook used the f o x t a i l as a symbol of something, J e r r y Weeks d i d n ' t know what, e x a c t l y ; maybe, J e r r y Weeks thought, to cover h i s mistakes. J e r r y ' s f a t h e r , p r i n c i p a l of our elementary school, said t h a t Snook was c a l l o u s , t h a t a goodly number of people were t h is way, t h a t c a l l o u s n e s s was something J e r r y would have t o l i ve with. Jerry was quick to say that he would never ride to the river again with Snook Howington and Monk Evans, to go swimming, as he had done the day before. They had all been pedaling furiously when they reached the river road. Snook was in the lead, followed by Monk. They turned from t-no p^TTPd highway _to the crushed slag without slowing. |