Coconuts and Crooks by Christy Murphy

Author:Christy Murphy [Murphy, Christy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-05T05:00:00+00:00

Once again Mom and Wenling woke up earlier than I did. Wenling had purchased earplugs to wear at night. She’d also decided that I should sleep on the bed closest to the air-conditioning, hoping my snoring would blend in with the noise of the compressor and fan. Since Mom didn’t like to sleep close to the air-conditioning, they opted to share, and I got to have my own bed.

The sound of the electricity in the room coming back on and the smell of hot coffee woke me up.

“We’ve got lattes, kid,” Mom said. “We took the key since we only went downstairs. I figured you could go without power for fifteen minutes.”

“You sure sleep soundly and loudly,” Wenling said.

“Is this half-caf?” I asked as Mom handed me the coffee. I always drank half-caf or decaf coffee, because the concentration of caffeine in coffee always makes me shake. People think that it’s ridiculous that I bother drinking half-caf, because I drink so much soda. But I have actually looked it up on the internet, and the concentration of caffeine in a smaller cup of coffee is significantly more than the caffeine in soda.

“They don’t do that here, and they only have real sugar. I figured with all the milk, you might be okay. Drink it slow,” Mom said.

Really wanting the coffee, I remembered that the concentration of caffeine is slightly less in espresso than it is in a brewed cup of coffee and decided Mom was right. I snatched the cup and vowed to drink it slowly.

“We’re going to the courthouse to get the skinny on the judge,” Mom said.

I nodded as I sipped my coffee. It was really good. “What time is it?” I asked.

“Half past eight,” Mom said.

“I’m up early,” I said, surprised at the hour. In Fletcher Canyon I typically slept until nine or ten.

“We were all asleep by midnight,” Mom said. “You’ll find the sun makes you tired, and it wakes you up, too.”

I looked toward the window. Even though the heavy curtains were closed, the bright rays of the morning sun shined out from the edges and lit up the room.

“We got you a breakfast sandwich,” Wenling said, handing me a paper plate and a small item wrapped so neatly in wax paper that it almost looked gift-wrapped.

I opened the package expecting some type of exotic sandwich, but found something very ordinary. “This looks like an Egg McMuffin.”

“It’s just like one of them, but they make it downstairs,” Mom said. “They call it English Muffin with Ham, Egg, and Cheese.”

“Not as catchy, but very tasty,” Wenling said.

After yesterday’s setback, all of us were eager to get to the courthouse and find some real clues. I ate my breakfast, finished my coffee, and jumped into the shower. We were on the road in Buboy’s pedicab within twenty minutes.

We whizzed down the Boulevard. Buboy waved to some of the people he knew. My back didn’t hurt as much as yesterday, and the ocean breeze and warm sun made me buzz with energy.

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