Snitch by Norah McClintock

Author:Norah McClintock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2005-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

The building Andrew lives in has a front entrance and a back entrance. Usually I go in the front way. But I didn’t that night because when I got close to it, I saw that Daryl and a bunch of his friends were hanging around the door, hassling everyone who went in or out. I wasn’t in the mood for that. I decided to go in the back way. It’s a good thing I did because when I got to the back of the building, I saw it. My box. With my name on it and my stuff in it. Sitting right there on the ground next to the dumpster. I grabbed it and carried it upstairs.

When I got to the apartment, Miranda was sitting at the dining room table, clipping recipes out of a magazine and pasting them into a big binder. Digby was asleep in the bedroom. Miranda looked at the box and then at me.

“You’re lucky you found it before the garbage truck got it,” Miranda said. “I warned you. If you keep leaving your stuff lying around, I’m going to throw it out.”

“If you touch my stuff again,” I told her, “you’ll be sorry.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, Josh.”

“How would you like it if people did whatever they wanted with your stuff?” I said. I picked up the mug that was sitting in front of her—her special mug that no one was supposed to ever touch.

“Put that down,” she said.

I raised it over my head. Boy, I was just aching to bounce it off the wall and watch it smash into a thousand pieces.

“Put it down, Josh.”

I stared at her. Then I slammed it down on the table. It didn’t break. I flopped onto the couch, where I wouldn’t have to look at her, and turned on the TV. When she told me to do my homework, I turned it up louder. She got up and went into the bedroom. I heard her crying.

She must have called Andrew because when he came home, he didn’t stop to talk to me. He went right into the bedroom. Maybe ten minutes later he came out again.

“You want to tell me your side?” he said.

“She threw my stuff out again. She has no right touching my stuff, Andrew.”

“You’re supposed to keep your stuff put away.” He shook his head. “Come on, Josh, you made her cry.”

“She started it,” I said. “She always starts it.”

“That’s your big line, huh?” Andrew said. “She started it. She always starts it. You never start anything. You never finish anything, either. That’s real mature, Josh.”

“What do you mean, I never finish—”

“This is where I live, Josh. Miranda and Digby are my family. I want it to be a peaceful family. That means everybody, including you, has to live by the rules. If you make Miranda cry one more time, you’re going to have to find someplace else to live. You hear me, Josh?” His face was all red and his hands were fists.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen Andrew so angry.

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