Which excerpt from “Raymond's Run” best shows that Squeaky admires people who are serious about doing their best? He can beat me to Amsterdam Avenue with me having a two-fire-hydrant head start on him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling. But that’s private information. ‘Cause can you imagine some thirty-five-year-old man stuffing himself into PAL shorts to race little kids?
He wins before he even begins by psyching the runners, telling them they’re going to trip on their shoelaces and fall on their faces or lose their shorts or something, which he doesn’t really have to do since he is very fast, almost as fast as I am.
And I lean down to catch my breath and here comes Gretchen walking back, for she’s overshot the finish line too, huffing and puffing with her hands on her hips taking it slow, breathing in steady time like a real pro and I sort of like her a little for the first time.
So I stand there with my new plans, laughing out loud by this time as Raymond jumps down from the fence and runs over with his teeth showing and his arms down to the side, which no one before him has quite mastered as a running style.