Streetlight People by Charlene Thomas

Author:Charlene Thomas [Thomas, Charlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2024-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Aaron

Wednesday, November 25

24 Days Before the Ball

Every year, the day before Thanksgiving, the Jack-Laurences host their Warm Plates event. And, for the past four Thanksgivings—ever since the wedding—Pops and I have gone out to support.

It was a really dope thing they were doing. They rented out this banquet hall at the Waldorf Astoria in DC and dressed it up like some kind of fairy tale. They catered a ton of turkey, stuffing, macaroni, mashed potatoes, green beans…everything Thanksgiving is times ten. And then they opened the doors to anyone who needed it. No dress code, no questions. You made your way down the line buffet style, you grabbed a seat at a tableclothed table, and—if you wanted it—you got a to-go tray to take more food with you when you left.

I didn’t really have a job when I was at Warm Plates. I guess none of us did. But Pops was hella in demand at these things ever since he and Charlotte got hitched, because press was everywhere, trying to get statements and pictures. Only from the recognizable Jack-Laurences, though. Pretty much all of them except for me.

I peeped Phil at one point, talking to a reporter. “Wouldn’t families in need be just as happy with a warm dinner that wasn’t accompanied by all the pomp and circumstance?” she asked.

Phil smiled like the answer was easy in his mind. “Just because the food is free doesn’t mean the night shouldn’t feel like a million bucks, right?”

I’d never seen money like Jack-Laurence money. Charlotte was modest about it, but still. This was the kind of money that could charter jets when one of them had to make a charity appearance in LA, or have a business meeting in New York, or get to the family vacation a day later than everyone else because they had work to do here. They had the kind of money that was so big it was invisible—because yeah, the homes were huge and the cars were nice, but the clothes were normal. The laptops a few years old. The iPhones, three or four generations behind. Like none of that stuff really mattered.

It was bigger than Streetlight money. The Jack-Laurences had more of it, and they did more with it, and sometimes I wondered if that was the real reason why all those guys were determined to stay back in Streetlight. Because they knew, in the real world, there were families like this one—families that weren’t gonna make pacts and had never heard of the little shops and restaurants they owned. Families who didn’t need their land or the IV brand—families who didn’t even want it. That was the thing: All they’d built depreciated the second they reached the next town. And there were times I thought that was wild, and times I knew it was genius. Because it forced everything and everyone to stay right where they could always see them.

Staying in Streetlight—it was never about controlling everyone else. That was just a perk. The real

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.