Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine

Author:Gail Carson Levine
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-10T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

SOLLY EXPLAINED AS we walked toward Convent Avenue. It was cold out, just like it was in. But I was warm because Mr. Meltzer had given me somebody’s winter coat and somebody’s cap to wear.

The air was crisp and fresh. I wanted to run or skip, but Solly didn’t walk very fast. He said he had told Mr. Meltzer he was my grandpa. “I said your cousin had just gotten married, and they wanted you at the party. I could see I had to shmeer him, so I slipped him a dollar. The nebbish almost kissed me. From him I could have gotten you out for a quarter.”

A dollar! I walked along, thinking about it. He’d spent a lot on me at the rent party too, paying for me to get in and giving me a dollar at the end. “How did you find me?” I asked, trying to understand.

“You think I can’t learn what an HHB is, boychik?”

The parrot squawked, “Boychik!”

Solly was the nicest grown-up I’d run into in a long time. He knew how much I wanted to go to Irma Lee’s party, so, when I didn’t show up where we were supposed to meet, he came and got me. “Thanks,” I said and repeated, “Thanks.”

“Think nothing of it.”

It was swell, being out and not having to worry about getting caught. Mr. Meltzer would be waiting for us at five-thirty. Solly said it was twelve-thirty now, so we had hours.

“Do you have any real grandchildren?” Maybe I reminded him of a dead son or grandson.

“My son, the alrightnik, has three little alrightniks. A girl and two boys. One boy wants to be a banker. The other boy wants to own a factory. My granddaughter, Heloise—what kind of a name is Heloise?—wants a pearl necklace for her birthday. Nine years old, and she wants pearls.”

They didn’t sound like kids who’d help their grandpa be a gonif. “I’m going to run away from the HHB,” I announced.

“Tonight? I promised that nebbish—”

“Not tonight. After I do something.”

We were going around Saint Nicholas Park. That was the name of the park I’d gone through before, when I went to the rent party. Solly was afraid he’d trip and fall if we walked through it.

I took a deep breath. “Could I stay with you after I run away?”

“You think this is a good idea, bubeleh?”

“I could help you. I could groan. You said—”

“You could help me. I’m an old man. I could use a little help. But they’d never let me adopt you. An old—”

“You wouldn’t have—”

“An old man without a job. They wouldn’t believe that being a gonif is full-time work.”

“You wouldn’t have to adopt me.”

“So? How would you go to school? They’d—”

“I wouldn’t have to go—”

“What if you got sick and I had to take you—”

“I’m healthy. I wouldn’t get—”

“What if I got sick? Nu?”

I stopped arguing. He didn’t want me, and he had a million excuses for it. Just like my relatives. I took it back, about him being so nice.

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.