Grunge Gods and Graveyards by Kimberly G. Giarratano

Author:Kimberly G. Giarratano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Published: 2014-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

It’s Oh So Quiet

(Björk, 1995)

My father’s study was exactly what one would expect from a lawyer. It was cramped with dark, oversized furniture. Tall bookcases with weighty hardcover books on contract, estate, and real estate law lined one wall. Folders, random documents, and accordion files were in stacks on the floor. The phone and fax machine sat on a metal filing cabinet just off to the side of the desk. A new computer, which I was strictly forbidden to turn on, sat on the desk. My dad had promised to set me up with an email account, but he’d flaked on that promise too. The study was controlled chaos, organized in my father’s bizarre, haphazard way, and only he knew where everything could be found.

I set the box down on his large, oak desk and slid the key out of my pocket. The lid popped open relatively easily, considering that I had unearthed the box and key from the ashes of a fire. A smoky odor wafted out, but otherwise the box and its contents were unharmed. Most of the documents were in Spanish, including Danny’s Mexican passport.

“Why wouldn’t your mom have taken this with her? There seems to be some important stuff in here.”

Danny leaned over me as I thumbed through the papers. Again, I was struck by the scent of his cologne. “Maybe she thought they were destroyed.” His voice sounded empty. Clearly, he didn’t believe his mother would have thought the fireproof box was destroyed. He just didn’t want to have to explain why she would up and leave town in a hurry after her son died.

“There.” He pointed to a piece of yellow paper. “Javier Mercado. My mom always said to call him if something ever happened to her or Arthur. How ironic.”

I exhaled loudly, picked up the receiver, and dialed the number. “It’s ringing.”

“Put it on speaker phone, so I can hear. I can tell you exactly what to say.”

I pressed the orange button. The ringing echoed off the paneling.

A man’s voice broke through. “Bueno.”

I froze.

“Bueno. Diga,” the man said again.

I whispered, “Your uncle doesn’t speak English. Does he?”

Danny shook his head. “My bad. He lives in Mexico. What did you expect? Repeat after me: ‘Hola.’”

I cleared my throat. “Hola.” It came out as a squeak, and Danny winced.

“Con quién hablo?” asked his uncle.

“Tell him your name.”

My mouth felt full of cotton, and my name came out like a muffled cry.

“¿Quién?”

“Lainey Bloom,” I said louder.

“You’re going to tell him that you’re a friend of mine, and you found something belonging to me that you want to send to my mother. Okay?”

I listened closely and recited Danny’s Spanish as carefully as I could. “Soy una compañera de clases de Danny. Tengo algunos recuerdos y quiero regresarlos a su madre, pero no tengo la dirección.”

“Si puede dármela...” Danny continued.

“Ahhh,” said Javier. “Claro. Un momento, por favor.”

My shoulders slumped in relief as I waited for Danny’s uncle to fetch the address for me. But instead, a woman’s voice came on the line.

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.