All Things Seen and Unseen by RJ McDaniel

Author:RJ McDaniel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2024-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Leo leads Alex past the watching islanders at the outside tables, back around the building, to a hidden yard, full of green grass and apple trees, enclosed by a rough-hewn driftwood fence. There’s a picnic table underneath the boughs, and Leo sits down, stretching his legs. From his pocket he pulls out a smushed chocolate chip cookie. “Do you want some?” he asks Alex.

“Uh, no thanks.”

“Mmm.” His mouth is already full of cookie. “So Alex—”

“How do you know my name?”

“How do I know your name?” He seems confused until enlightenment hits. “Oh, my boss was talking about you before you came in the other day, and when I saw you I knew you had to be the Alex she was talking about.”

“She was talking about me? What was she saying?”

“Just that she’d never seen you before.”

“Just that?”

“I mean.” Leo is sheepish. “She’s not exactly happy about all the people who’ve been coming to the island lately. She thinks it’s going to cause crime, make the housing prices go up. Basically every bad thing. And —” He stops. “I feel really bad saying this.”

“Just tell me. I know it’s not you coming up with it.”

Leo casts a furtive glance back toward the café. He lowers his voice to a half-whisper. “Again, I feel really bad saying this. But she was saying that she could kind of tell you weren’t from here.”

Oh, so she’s racist, Alex immediately thinks, but she holds herself back from saying it aloud. There’s no point arguing with a teen about whether his boss is racist. “I get it, I get it. Did you find anything out about the posters?”

“Oh, yeah.” He looks sheepish again. “She just shredded them. Sorry.”

So that was that, then. Alex stands up, unable to hide her disappointment. “Well, thanks for all your help, Leo. I really appreciate it.”

He stands up, too, hastily. “No problem! And if there’s anything else you ever need help with, you know who to call.”

“Oh, I did want to ask you something.” It’s shady, but she has to. “Do you know a guy living on the cape named Amara?”

“A guy named Amara?” Leo casts his gaze heavenward, as though the information will be retrievable somewhere in the mist. “Not ringing any bells, no.”

“He’s a short, big guy with a beard. He would have been living here for about four, five months.”

Leo shakes his head. “Nope. And I don’t think anyone else working here knows him either, otherwise I would have heard about it. A huge bearded guy named Amara, new on the island, living on the cape — yeah, I’m sure he would be a hot topic if anyone knew he existed.”

“Okay.” She is about to leave, but before she does, she stops. “Can I ask you one last question?”

“Hit me.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

He shrugs. “I try to be nice to people.”

The simplicity of this statement is delightful to Alex. “That’s really cool of you, dude.”

“Also I go to school in the city, and lots of my friends are gay.

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