Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Phillip. Be sure to check out About Dan here.
Phillip is a computer nerd who suddenly discovers a liking for track. Everything would be fine except for his father.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Phillip Home) (Last) (Next)
Nerd Meets Jock
"What am I looking at?" whispered Dan back.
Phillip rolled his eyes. "You wanted the most awesome gaming machine in history, right? There it is! Look—two video cards—the good ones. And look at the spec on the RAM. And it has two game controller ports. You can run Linux in a separate partition if you want."
"What’s Linux?"
Phillip rolled his eyes again. His voice was louder, firmer. "Linux is quite simply the best thing to ever happen to a Wintel machine…"
Brother Sam interrupted from the front of the room. "Phillip, can you explain just what Linux has to do with the lesson?"
Except for Phillip, everyone in the room laughed and sniggered, even Dan. Phillip turned red.
Dan replied, loudly. "It’s because Linux provides better Windows to the soul!"
Everyone laughed, except, once again, Phillip, who was as red as Dan’s crimson Park High letter jacket.
Phillip expected a reprimand, but all Brother Sam said was "ok, you two, keep it down back there. And Phillip, if you’re half as good a missionary for the church as you are for Linux, we’ll have a million converts!"
More laughter. Phillip tried to join in, knowing he’d just been given a reprieve, but he remained so red his face hurt.
As the heads in the room turned back to the front, Dan picked up the magazine again.
"Phillip, this computer is really expensive." He was back to a whisper.
"You don’t have to buy something that big. I just thought you’d enjoy seeing a state of the art gaming machine."
"Uh, yeah, it’s nice," he said without conviction. "So what do I really need? I think I can talk my mom’s executor into something about half the price."
"For gaming you need throughput and excellent video response. Here, look at this configuration." He flipped a couple pages to another ad, not noticing that Dan screwed up his nose at the word "configuration." "Here. Close to your price range. Everything you need. You can order it online. You should get a good display, too. Some of the new digital flat panels are truly amazing."
"Phillip, your turn."
Phillip looked up to see Justin tapping him on his shoulder. Justin smiled enigmatically and turned away.
"Whatsamatter?" whispered Dan. "You look green."
"Nothing."
Dan just smiled. "Can I keep the magazine?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Let me know if I can answer any questions. I can help you shop online if you want. It’s really simple, you know. Just use a credit card. And…"
"Yes, I know," whispered Dan, patting Phillip on the arm. "Your dad doesn’t like to be kept waiting." He looked at Phillip, smiled at him and turned back to the magazine.
Phillip let himself out and treaded reluctantly down the hall. Even though the teachers and priests didn’t meet with the Scouts on activity night, the Scoutmaster would still be their Scoutmaster until they earned their Eagle Scout award. And he’d have to explain to the Board what Lance already knew. There had been no progress. None.