Jars of Glass by Brad Barkley

Author:Brad Barkley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2010-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chloe

“WHO WOULD WIN? A polar bear, or a thousand bees?” Todd asks, lifting the drawer out of the cash register.

“Bees,” Raven says, pressing the khaki-colored napkins into the silver holder. She holds up a napkin and reads from it. “‘Made with seventy-five percent post-consumer waste.’ Not really the thing you want to be wiping your mouth with, is it?” I shake my head and keep wiping the top of the glass display case.

“You can’t just say bees,” Todd says, stacking the money from the drawer into neat piles. Raven rolls her eyes at me and smiles. This has become my nightly ritual. Help get Micah into bed (or not), walk down here, and work behind the counter during the nightly postmovie, postdinner, pre-party, prestudying rush. Anyone asks, you’re sixteen, Todd told me the first night. At first I felt bad about leaving Micah with Shana, felt like I was taking advantage of her, but then I thought Why? Half the time Micah’s with Vernon anyway, plus I doubt she ever felt guilty about leaving me to take care of things while she got away. “Okay, Chloe, your turn.” I turn and take a bite out of my blueberry scone and lean my hip against the counter, chewing and thinking.

“Superman or Batman?” I ask.

“Superman Red or Superman Blue?” Todd asks, tapping the edge of one stack of twenties on the counter before snapping a rubber band around it.

“Either one,” I say. I look over at Raven, who just shrugs.

“Okay, let’s say Superman Red, because he’s the one most people are familiar with.”

“So your answer is Superman?” Raven asks.

“Duh,” Todd says, going back to his counting.

“Why duh?” Raven asks. She doesn’t look up from the funnel she is holding over the cinnamon shakers.

“Superman has about seventeen major super powers.” Todd stops stacking and turns to face us. “Flying, heat vision, super speed, super strength, freezing breath.” He ticks off each one, holding up his other hand when he runs out of fingers. “X-ray vision, impenetrable skin, dimensional teleportation, electron manipulation.”

“Okay there, Superdork, I think we have a pretty good idea.” Raven smiles as she says it, but Todd just squints at her. “I’m going to go with Batman,” she says. She places the funnel over another shaker and begins pouring nutmeg into it. Todd makes a noise that sounds like a faucet being turned on after a really cold night. “Batman has a gadget for everything. The batarang, the batcopter, the batmobile, the batapult. . . .”

“Not to mention all of the things in his utility belt,” I say.

“And the Bat Cave,” she says, waggling her eyebrows at me. Todd squints at her again.

“The category is which is more likely to win in a fight, not which one you would be more likely to date,” he says.

“I know,” Raven says, making her eyes go soft. “But he is dreamy.” She looks over at me and smiles vacantly, making me crack up.

“You just like him because he’s all dark and mysterious,” Todd says.

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