Johnny, My Friend Quotes

“But now the police have found Johnny’s bicycle abandoned along with others belongings he would never let out of his sight. They want to know what Chris and Johnny did together, where they went and why.”

“Johnny pumped up the front tire, pumped up the back, listened to the echo from the inner tubes, let out a bit of air, jumped in some more, and checked the tires. Having completed that little ceremony, he handed over the pump to me. Me!”

“When they are together Chris lives a different, more exciting life than when he’s at home or at his strict and traditional grammar school.”

“But Johnny has only thought in his head and that’s his beloved bicycle, he just sits there staring at it, examining it, and gauging its chances of a life after this.”

“Nobody has time to note anything scandalous about Johnny’s underpants before he’d pulled up his trousers again, spun round, and butted George in the stomach. George doubled up, only to get an uppercut from the back of Johnny’s head, and then a left hook to the chin which adjusted his beating by ninety degrees.”

“That promise about turning over a new leaf wasn’t just talk: there were no more dangerous escapades for a while. It could be Johnny was now so well known, he didn’t need to prove himself any more.”

Everything changes for Chris one August evening when red-haired, freckle-faced Johnny turns up on a bicycle, but who is Johnny and why do the police have his bicycle and other belongings?

“Not only that, even though he is small and looks girlish Johnny knows just how to deal with anybody, however clever or though. Before long, Johnny is Chris’s best friend, even thought he’s full of mysteries.”

“He won’t say where he lives or tell his surname or talk about his family or explain where he goes when he disappears for weeks on end. Still, Johnny is the most fascinating, daring person Chris has ever met.”

“Dad had heard about somebody riding a bike down the Kvarngatan steps. So, it was you, was it! He clapped Johnny on the back and said it was lucky Johnny wasn’t one of his kids, or he’d have had something to say about it. Johnny didn’t look specially worried.”