Three Strike Summer by Skyler Schrempp

Author:Skyler Schrempp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Sunlight beat down on the top of my head, making my scalp burn. I was as high as I could get on a ladder, the earth miles below me, far enough to make some folks queasy.

I wasn’t queasy, but I sure felt skittish waiting for word on the plan. Suppose there was none? Suppose the team was working on their own way out? Or worse, suppose they’d found the secret spot at the edge of camp? Worse still, suppose a clipboard man had seen it and was already sealing it off?

I heard the sound of a groaning ladder across from me and saw that someone was climbing up the other side of the trunk. I figured I better look busy, so I started picking as fast as I could.

“Psst, Gloria!”

It was Quentin peeping through the leaves with a finger to his lips. I could have jumped and shouted hallelujah, I was so happy to see him.

“Terrance says you found an alternate point of egress. Is it true?”

“Alternate point of egress?”

“Another way out.”

I beamed. “Sure is.”

Quentin was about as cool and collected as they come, but even I could see the smile dancing at the edges of his mouth.

“Well, all right. Listen up. We meet at ten tonight when the shift at the front gate changes.”

“I don’t got a pocket watch, Quentin—”

“Don’t worry. The guard that takes off at ten has got a car that sounds like a tommy gun when he starts it up. You hear that, you slip out quiet and quick. Anyone who sees you, you tell them you got to go to the john. Just be inconspicuous.”

“Inconspicuous?”

“Try not to get caught.”

“Got it,” I said.

“We meet in Old Man Grady’s cabin. It’s still empty,” Quentin said. “When you come, you tap ‘shave and a haircut’ on the door. We’ll let you in.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Quentin smiled, and I could almost see the rosy blush coming through the leaves. “Me? I’m not the boss. That’s Terrance.”

“Say, how come Terrance so bullish? What’s he got to prove anyway? Is it true he got a ma on the run and his pa’s on the bottle?”

Quentin’s clear eyes darted back to mine and I suddenly wanted to shrink behind the leaves for talking that way about Terrance’s folks. I wasn’t even sure why I said it. The summer sun started burning up in my cheeks, and for a moment, I was worried that Quentin might get the wrong idea about me. That all I had in me was spite. But he just plucked a peach and looked it over like I’d asked the most earnest, fair question in the world.

“I couldn’t say exactly why Terrance is the way he is,” Quentin said. “He doesn’t talk much about all that… but I expect it’s on his mind all the time…. Might be hard to tell sometimes, but deep down inside, Terrance Bowman’s as good as gold.”

I liked how Quentin talked, cool and calm and easy. He didn’t have an ounce of meanness

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.