Cherry Money Baby

Author:John M. Cusick [Cusick, John M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6709-2
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2013-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

They were out a long time. Walking, talking. Cherry could barely keep up with Ardelia. And then, after ordering milk shakes at a twenty-four-hour diner not far from the harbor, Ardelia decided she had to be taken home. The Spider zipped quietly through the vacant back streets, the wheels bobbling over the cobblestone avenues. It was that too-late or too-early hour of the night when the city was most empty. Cherry could smell baking bread.

Ardelia wiped her cheeks. They were sparkly in the low light of the dash.

“Are you crying?”

“My eyes are just raw.” Her voice was hoarse, that of a much older woman. Ardelia seemed to have aged ten years since the park. She curled up her knees and rested her cheek against the seat. She put her hand on Cherry’s knee. “Thank you.”

Cherry squeezed her friend’s hand, not sure what she was being thanked for. By the next stoplight, Ardelia was asleep. She looked roughed up, her hair frizzed from the night’s humidity, her lips dry and cracked. It was the first time Cherry had seen her look frayed, frail, and she couldn’t decide if this was the kind of raw that comes after a workout — the used-up, good-for-you kind — or the beat-down look of someone who’s just had the shit kicked out of them.

Without Ardelia’s infectious energy, the late hour pulled on Cherry like a lead coat. She felt beat-up herself. She thought they’d been having fun, but, really, Ardelia was having fun with herself. Cherry was an accessory, an add-on. She thought of the kid in the park and the warm air and the ice cream — and it took the sweetness out of everything.

But it was also — sort of, a bit — exciting. And it had been pretty funny, pretty ridiculous, the look on the guy’s face. Jesus. She felt so different. Even the exhaustion, the fact she’d have to sneak in through her window so Pop wouldn’t know she’d been out all night, and the knowledge that tomorrow she’d be wrecked for school were good things. She felt stretched, sore like a muscle that didn’t get much exercise, used for the first time.

She yawned, guiding the Spider toward Ardelia’s hotel, through the orange and empty streets. The sun was rising in a city, and look how she’d been out all night, and look at the color of the sky, a color you could drive into forever.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.