When No One Was Looking Read Online Free Page A

didn’t like the ocean because of a wartime trauma in the Pacific. “They can’t afford it,” she said.
    “They pay for just you to belong?”
    “They have to. I’m on lifeguard duty every day I can and work at the courts and in the lunchroom to help. My younger sister, Jody, waits tables in the cafeteria weekends, and my brother Bobby’s just a baby, so he comes free when Jody’s off and she can watch him.”
    “What do you mean, they have to?” Oliver asked.
    “This is my tennis coach’s summer job, at this club. I have to work with her at least five times a week. The courts are excellent clay, and there’re good people to hit with. I have to belong because it’s the best thing for my game.”
    “You mean you’re serious about tennis? Are you a ranked player and everything?”
    “Yes, I guess so,” said Kathy, staring at her toes and wishing the subject would go away.
    “Are you going to be a professional?”
    “My mom and dad and my coach think I have a chance. First I have to qualify for the National Championships. If I’m lucky enough to get national ranking in my age group, maybe I can take it from there in a few years. I’m number twelve now in fourteen and under, but that’s just New England. One in a million makes it to pro.
    “I’m still impressed,” said Oliver.
    “Don’t be,” said Kathy.
    “Do you like it?” he asked.
    “Sure I like it. I couldn’t spend twenty hours a week practicing if I didn’t like it. And my mom has to drive me to tournaments and bring the kids along almost every other weekend. My dad has to pay for court fees and lessons and everything.”
    “But do you really like it?”
    “I want to win the U.S. Open someday,” said Kathy, and she surprised herself with the coldness of her own voice.
    Oliver folded his hands between his bony knees. “But do you like it?” he asked again.
    “Why do you keep asking me that?”
    “Because when you said just then that you wanted to win the U.S. Open, you sounded so awful. I didn’t really mind you laughing at me before, and you sounded just like a ... person then, not just a girl. Now you sound like everybody else at this club. Like the stockbrokers who get drunk here on the beach Sunday afternoons.”
    Kathy could think of no reply to that. Not even Julia addressed her so frankly as this odd boy. “I’m sorry,” she murmured after a minute had passed.
    “What happens if you don’t win the U.S. Open?” Oliver persisted. “Supposing you don’t make it that far?”
    “I’ll have to go to college and just have a normal life, I guess. I’ll have to think about my grades too, not just tennis, or I’ll never get in anywhere good.”
    “But what would you like to be more than anything else?”
    “I just told you,” said Kathy.
    “But if you don’t make it.”
    “Well, you’d laugh at me,” said Kathy, playing with the life preserver that hung on the side of her chair.
    “No, I won’t.”
    “I could never tell a boy,” said Kathy.
    “What?” asked Oliver heatedly. “A urologist?”
    “What’s that?” Kathy asked.
    “A doctor who operates on men’s privates,” said Oliver.
    “No! Of course not!” Kathy whispered angrily. “What made you think that of all things?”
    “Well,” said Oliver, pushing his glasses up his nose, “if you don’t win the U.S. Open and you don’t want to be a urologist, what do you want to be?”
    How did this happen? Kathy asked herself. “Shortstop for the Red Sox,” she said weakly. “I played little league until I was about twelve and then I started tennis full time.”
    “Oh! Well, that’s not so bad. I wanted to pitch once. I’m a very good pitcher. I’ve got a nice slider, but I’m too small to make the Yale team.”
    Kathy wished she could just tell Oliver how much she liked him for not laughing at her, but instead she pretended to gaze at the dancers. She tapped her foot in time to “Some Enchanted Evening.” “It doesn’t matter, being