Deliver Me by Malin Persson Giolito

Author:Malin Persson Giolito [Giolito, Malin Persson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2024-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

THE BOYS

The first time they saw each other after Dogge’s father died was outside Weed’s Market. They had arranged to meet up there.

Dogge had zero intention of going along to the funeral home and listening as some dusty dude with an ugly tie asked what kind of music Teo had liked, and what they should write in the obituary.

Jill kept bothering him about it. “A cross for the graphic on top, or maybe an anchor? Should we include Teo’s parents’ names, since they’re paying? ‘Sleep well’? ‘Rest in peace’? ‘Please consider a donation to the Cancer Fund.’”

Mom could take care of that herself. Even though she had already overslept for two meetings and still hadn’t called Teo’s parents to tell them he’d said he didn’t want them at the funeral.

When Billy approached Dogge, he looked sad, like he’d been crying.

“I’m so …” he began. “Your dad was …”

Suddenly Dogge got the feeling Billy was about to hug him. To keep that from happening, he took a half step back, turned around, and walked through the doors, into the store, straight to the shelf of sodas, where he grabbed a bottle of Coke and shook it hard before putting it back and starting on the next one.

“Wipe that sad look off your face,” he muttered. “It wasn’t your fucking dad who died.”

He shook the bottles of soda one by one. Billy stood next to him without doing or saying a thing. Weed was nowhere to be seen. The employees who filled in when he couldn’t be at the store never dared to confront Billy or Dogge. They might be standing just a foot or two away when the boys picked things up, filling their pockets with the most expensive items from the meat counter, taking fistfuls of candy from the bulk bins. They wouldn’t say a word. The boys always threw away everything they’d taken as soon as they left the store. Most of the time they didn’t even eat the candy.

“Come on,” said Billy. “Let’s go to my house instead.” He sounded like a grown-up trying to get Dogge to calm down. “We can watch a movie, just chill a little.”

But Dogge didn’t feel like watching a movie. He couldn’t stand Billy’s annoying siblings. All he wanted was for it to be quiet inside his head. If they went to Billy’s they couldn’t smoke up, couldn’t do oxy, and there wasn’t any alcohol to sneak. Dogge didn’t have any money, and Mehdi had stopped giving them drugs for free. He had to get his hands on some cash, and he had to talk to Mehdi. He dropped a two-liter bottle on the floor, the soda inside foamed, the bottle rolled off.

“You go home and chill if you’re so fucking tired.”

That was when he saw her. She was standing by the bulk candy. It was Weed’s daughter, he knew that much. How old could she be? Almost their age. At least twelve. She wasn’t all that cute, but she wasn’t ugly either.

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