Chasing AllieCat by Rebecca Fjelland Davis

Author:Rebecca Fjelland Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult, teen fiction, fiction, teen, teen fiction, teenager, mystery, suspense, thriller, angst, drama, Minnesota, biking
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Dead Ends

July 3, continued

Joe guided the car down the hill, but we knew that we were looking up and down side streets in vain. We drove around for twenty minutes without any hope of seeing her.

“I don’t get,” Joe said, tapping the steering wheel. “Why she’d run from us.”

“Allie only mentioned Father Malcolm one time to me, and I could tell there was something she didn’t want to talk about, but it didn’t seem like a big deal. I don’t get it, either. Why would she come see him every night, but run from us? What’s the connection?”

Joe shrugged and drove back up the hill to a spot where we could look over the town. Lights twinkled across the valley and reflected on the river. Joe put the Grand Am into park and turned off the ignition. He squeezed my knee and left his hand on my leg.

“What now, Sadie-Sadie?” he asked. I liked it when he called me that.

I said, “We probably go home and get ready for the race tomorrow.” I flopped my head back on the headrest. “Or we chicken out and don’t race. Joe, I don’t even know what I’m doing. I’ve never raced before. I don’t want to do it without Allie there.”

“No, Sadie-Sadie. You’ve got to race. This is what you’ve been training for. You’ve been working for this all summer, and you’re gonna kick some butt in the Beginner class. You have to go ahead and do it.”

“We have to,” I corrected.

“Naw, I might chicken out.”

I punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“Okay, okay.” He grabbed my hand to stop a second punch. “We. And maybe, maybe, Allie will show up at the race.”

“I sure hope so. And there’s a $250 purse,” I said. “I can’t imagine her not showing up with a chance for a big win like that. Especially after what Mike said about her being seeded first.”

“At least now we know she’s okay. Physically, anyway,” Joe said.

The sun had long since dropped over the edge of the world and the last of the dusky light was slipping away. From here, we could see the steeple of St. Peter’s and Paul’s Catholic Church, the one for the School Sisters of Notre Dame on Good Counsel Hill across another gorge, two Lutheran churches and a Methodist, but not Father Malcolm’s Catholic church.

“So you really pray for him? Father Malcolm, I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know if I believe in God or not,” I said after a pause. “If I did, I’d pray. Did you mean it when you said that’s why you never swear? Respect for God?”

He nodded.

“Do you believe it does any good—praying, I mean?”

“I’m sort of scared not to believe it. Since my brother died, especially. I’d rather pray into empty air and have it do nothing, than not pray if God really is listening.”

“Isn’t that what they call hedging your bets?” I asked.

“I guess. Sort of chicken-shit, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.” I shifted in my seat. “Or smart, maybe. Like fire insurance for eternity.

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