“Well, hell, I don’t know. I’m too damn tired to think straight anymore!” He chunked a rock across the field in frustration. “This is all a waste of breath anyway. Why waste our time thinking up magic tricks? The fact is those guys are dead, and they’re gonna stay dead no matter what we do. Their lives are a lost cause; it’s their souls we’re trying to save. Our primary focus should be on making sure they get to play ball.”

“I agree. But you still haven’t answered my question.”

“All right look, I figure everyone will be so glad to see the Jackrabbits back, they’re not even gonna care about the hows and whys. At least at first.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch for me to believe, but I’m not from around here, so for the moment I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“Trust me, I know this town. All we have to do is avoid the hard questions for a couple days. And how do we do that? With a diversion. And there could be no better diversion than the suggestion of a grudge match against Elmwood Heights.”

Savanna considered it. “Okay, I’ll go along. But we still have to convince everyone that the boys aren’t dead.”

“Why would anyone think they’re dead? They’re up and walking. Thedford Blunt didn’t think Willard was dead, and Willard’s his own son.”

“Thedford Blunt was stumble-down drunk. He wouldn’t think King Tut was dead. But did you get a good look at those guys, Logan?”

“So they’re a little pale … no one’s gonna expect them to look tan and rested.”

“Pale? Cole, one of those boys had a cleat poking out of his kidney. They don’t look pale, they look dead.”

“Well then, we’ll fix ’em up a little. What time does this memorial thing start?”

“Five p.m.”

“Perfect. It’ll be getting dark by then, make it harder for people to get a good look at the guys. Plus that gives us plenty of time to clean them up.”

“Clean them up? I’m not going anywhere near those things.”

“Look, this isn’t a big deal. We’ll line them up and hose them down, for godsake. You can work the hose and I’ll pull out whatever’s poking out of ’em. They won’t feel a thing. Hell, they can’t feel a thing.” He clapped his hands together. “This is perfect! It’ll work. I know it’ll work.”

Savannah didn’t see how it possibly could. She was about to tell him so when she realized that he was smiling at her.

He started to laugh. He was actually taking pleasure from her distress, which only served to turn her distress into anger.

“What the hell is so funny, Logan?”

“You.”