Dom Luka The Other S

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ptic bullshit for five minutes!”
David took an abrupt step forward, startling Frank into silence. “Oliver’s no
t here right now,” he said quietly. “Time to leave, Frank.”
“David...”
“I don’t got no answers for you. Everything else you can see. You’re just not
looking!” he said, sounding angry over it.
Frank opened his mouth to inform David that he sounded like a crazy person,
but then closed it and decided that it wasn’t worth the effort as he turned
and headed down the front steps. “Just tell Oliver to call me when he gets b
ack,” Frank said as he reached his bike and began to walk it towards the roa
d.
“Hey Frank,” David suddenly called, causing Frank to pause and look back a
t him. “Did it ever occur to you that whoever was looking in your windows
wasn’t looking to take a picture of anyone in your family?”
“You think...”
Frank didn’t get to finish his response when David turned, walked into his
house, and gave an obvious dismissal as he slammed the front door.
............................................................
Frank didn’t know what time it was when he arrived home, but he knew that s
omething wasn’t quite right when he got there. His mom’s car was parked on
the side of the house, which he hadn’t expected. She should have been worki
ng until later that afternoon. When he saw that the front door had been lef
t carelessly wide open, he felt a knot rise in his throat as he rushed towa
rds it.
“Mom!” Frank called as he entered, looking around for any signs of troubl
e. “Mom!”
“In here, honey!” was the muffled response, and as he reached the kitchen
he looked over the scene with a good amount of confusion. With good reason
, he thought. The scene at the kitchen table was strange enough.
He had to look twice when he noticed not one, but two redheaded girls at th
e table sharing peanut-butter sandwiches. He was about to demand if Rudy ha
d multiplied before both girls looked over their shoulders and he saw that
one had glasses and a lot more freckles. He shook off the oddity of the pic
ture they made and looked towards his mother, who was attempting to wrestle
something out of the garbage disposal she’d insisted they install after mo
ving in. Frank strode across the kitchen and pulled her hand out of the dra
in before he reached in himself and found the mangled spoon that had gotten
trapped.
“Thank you,” Jessica said once he retrieved it. “I feel like I’ve been trying
to pull that out forever. Where were you at?”
Frank ignored her question. “The front door’s wide open,” he said accusingly
.
Jessica sighed. “I know. It’s just so hot in here and that swamp cooler’s start
ing to smell again.”
“You told me to lock the doors whether or not I’m home...”
“Frank,” Jessica cut him off, looking amused. “It’s hot. And I think letting
some air in will do us some good. Besides, we’re all here now. Have you sai
d hello to Rudy’s friend, Stephanie?” she asked pointedly, letting Frank kno
w that he was being rude.
He sighed. “Hi, Stephanie.”
“Hi,” the girl replied, sounding too chipper for Frank’s current mood.
“Mom,” he started, but Jessica was already moving past him and into a plast
ic grocery bag left on the counter top. She reached in, and when she turned
back to face him she was presenting a whistle connected to a shoelace.
“Here,” she said. “We’ve all got one. I couldn’t find anyplace that sold pepp
er spray, but if there’s any trouble, we can blow our whistles.”
Dumbfounded, Frank looked between the whistle and his mom until she finall
y rolled her eyes and put it around his neck herself. He noticed that Rudy
was already wearing one before he finally cracked a smile and found himse
lf trying not to laugh. But, he did manage to keep from telling his mom th
at he thought blowing a whistle at an attacker would be about as effective
as trying to tickle one with a feather. “What are you doing home?” he ask
ed. “I thought you were working today.”
Jessica’s smile faded, and she headed towards the living room. Frank couldn’t
tell if it was because she planned to avoid the question, or if she didn’t w
ant Rudy and her friend to hear her response.
“Mom?” he asked again when they reached the living room and his mom went a
bout straightening things that didn’t need to be straightened.
“Everything’s fine, Frank. They just didn’t need me today, that’s all.”
“They fired you?” he demanded.
Jessica straightened. “No.” she said quickly. “But it seems that in this tow
n, everyone has slow days. Even ice-cream stores on hot days.”
“Oh.”
“They said they’d call me back next week if they needed help.”
“Next week?”
“Frank,” Jessica said quickly. “Don’t make a big deal of it. We’re fine--and
don’t you dare go looking for a job just because you think you need to supp
ort us. That’s not your job.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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