Forty-five minutes later, Kit and the rest of the class walked out, mostly looking like they had been run over repeatedly by the same steamroller.  Remind me never to go to sub-SaharanAfrica in the eighteen hundreds, Raoul muttered.  After today, just seeing it would make me come down with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kit theoreticallycould have gone to that time and place if he wanted to and was willing to pay the price,but right now he felt about the same asRaoul did.  Still, it could have been worse. At least we passed.

 Yeah.Not sure I have any appetite left for lunch  I guess we can go look, though.

Kit grinned, privately thinking that it would take a nuclear war to ruinRaoul's appetite.  Let me know how it was. I have to go home for lunch.

 God, I wish I lived as close to school as you do, Raoul said.  When I think of all the cafeteria food I wouldn t have to eat !

 Go on, Pirate,  Kit said.  Suffer a little. I ll see you later.

He made his way back to his locker, chucked his backpack into it, locked it up again, and headed out the school s back door, jogging across the parking lot, through the gate, and around the corner ontoConlon Road .

Ponchwas bouncing around in the backyard, jumping almost to the top of the chain-link fence, as Kit came down the driveway.  Okay, okay, give me a minute,  Kit said. He pulled the screen door open and poked the lock with one finger.  Hey,Chubbo  

The lock obligingly threw its bolt back for him. Kit patted the lock, opened the door, loped into the kitchen, very hastily threw together a ham sandwich on rye with some mustard, and ate it. For his mother, who was still asleep because she had been working night shifts at the hospital over the past week, he left a note scribbled on the pad on the refrigerator:  I had lunch. See you later.  He thought of adding the code phrase  Out on business now  to let his mama know that there was wizardly work afoot, but then he changed his mind. He d have no more than his lunch period minus the time to eat the sandwich before he would have to be back at school again, anyway.