The Girl by Alton Gansky

Author:Alton Gansky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042060;FIC042020;FIC031070
ISBN: 9781441231345
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

8

Reunion

9:03 A.M.

I was sitting in one of the holding cells in the back of the building. All of them were empty, they usually were, so I thought it might be a quieter, less frightening place for Littlefoot. Because she had changed since yesterday, I was tempted to call her “Littler-foot,” but it was too hard to say and it might just confuse her. It was quiet back there. We were away from deputies and citizens coming and going.

The cell also had a bed and I was hoping my little friend would take a rest. She didn’t look sleepy and I wondered, in light of all I had seen so far, if she even needed to sleep. I scolded myself. Of course she did. She had a body, right? She ate food, didn’t she? Why wouldn’t she need sleep?

I picked up the paper plates that had, moments earlier, held our breakfast. Yes, my second breakfast for the day. I wasn’t the least bit hungry, but I feared that Littlefoot wouldn’t eat unless I did the same. I introduced her to scrambled eggs, rye toast with jelly (she really liked that), and bacon. She avoided the plastic fork and used her hands to shovel the food from plate to mouth. To my surprise she ate everything and not once did she do the dog-peanut-butter thing with her tongue.

Uncle Bart had placed a call to social services to advise them that one of their charges was missing. He used colorful language and spoke loudly enough that the phone was probably unnecessary. That’s when it occurred to me that things might be better back here in the cells.

“Tank.” It was Uncle Bart. “You got visitors.”

He stepped to the side, and the tall, gentlemanly figure of Dr. McKinney entered. “I knew you would come to no good, my boy.” He said it with a smile. It took me a second to get the joke.

“Dr. McKinney!” I was on my feet and out of the cell. He raised both hands as if he could stop my approach. He wasn’t much for hugs. I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him off the ground for a moment.

“Careful, Tank, he’s old and frail.” That voice sent electricity through me. Andi stood a step or two back from the professor. Her face was just as gorgeous as it had been a couple of months ago in Florida when I last saw her. Her red hair was still as bright and still defying gravity. I set the professor aside and gave Andi a big hug. I may have held the hug a little too long. She started to pull away. I don’t know how to judge such things. I could see joy and humor in her eyes.

“Oh, sure, the white girl gets a hug.”

I looked over Andi’s big hair and saw Brenda’s face. One corner of her mouth ticked up. It was the closest thing to a smile I had seen from her. Brenda was tough, streetwise, and at times, a little scary.

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