（外文电子版资料）Sitters, The.pdf

The Sitters Clifford D. Simak THE FIRST WEEK of school was finished. Johnson Dean, superintendent of Millville High, sat at his desk, enjoying the quiet and the satisfaction of late Friday afternoon. The quiet was massacred by Coach Jerry Higgins. He clomped into the office and threw his muscular blond frame heavily in a chair. Well, you can call off football for the year, he said angrily. We can drop out of the conference. Dean pushed away the papers on which he had been working and leaned back in his chair. The sunlight from the western windows turned his silver thatch into a seeming halo. His pale, blue-veined, wrinkled hands smoothed out, painstakingly, the fading crease in his fading trousers. What has happened now? he asked. Its King and Martin, Mr. Dean. They arent coming out this year. Dean clucked sympathetically, but somewhat hollowly, as if his heart was not quite in it. Let me see, he said. If I remember rightly, those two were very good last year. King was in the line and Martin quarterback. Higgins exploded in righteous indignation. Who ever heard of a quarterback deciding he wouldnt play no more? And not just an ordinary boy, but one of the very best. He made all-conference last year. Youve talked to them, of course? I got down on my knees to them, said the coach. I asked them did they want that I should lose my job. I asked is there anything you got against me. I told them they were letting down the school. I told them we wouldnt have a team without them. They didnt laugh at me, but - They wouldnt laugh at you, said Dean. Those boys are gentlemen. In fact, all the youngsters in school - Theyre a pack of sissies! stormed the coach. Dean said gently, That is a matter of opinion. There have been moments when I also wasnt able to attach as much importance to football as it seemed to me I should. But thats different, argued the coach. When a man grows up, naturally he will lose