If Jack's in Love by Stephen Wetta

Author:Stephen Wetta
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Young Adult
ISBN: 9780399157523
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

23

NEUMAN’S WAS a blindingly parti-colored ice cream establishment whose regal banquettes made even the tallest and most substantial of our citizens appear puny and trite. There might as well have been a sign at the door, “The management requires you to leave your despair outside.” Frosting, frivolity and fluorescence were the essence of the Neuman universe. The nightmare of history had nothing to do with the place.

Deep inside the cushioned pleats of a corner booth sat Pop, Mom, Stan, Anya and I. Our special guest that day was Tillie, who at the last minute had claimed my birthday as an affair she simply could not miss. In hindsight I suspect she only wanted to check out the Witchers, since there seemed no end in sight to her daughter’s infatuation with Stan. Nevertheless, I was flattered to have earned the enthusiasm of such a magnificent dame.

She had driven the Fleetwood to Neuman’s, with Stan and Anya making out in the back seat. In the parking lot, where we all met, I discerned a restrained frown on her face while she watched my mother climb out of the Ford. But she brightened up considerably when she saw Pop. There was a spark in her eyes, and I decided I would watch these two closely.

Sure enough, once we got settled on the banquette and my mother’s face had disappeared behind the elongated menu, the flirting began in earnest.

“I hear you’re looking for work,” Tillie said.

“Yes ma’am.” Pop’s chin was on his fist. He was chewing gum, which made his head bob. He gave her one of his crooked grins. “You got something?”

“You mean work?”

She giggled.

I shot a look at Mom, but she was puzzling over Neuman’s encyclopedic list of sundaes.

“Pop’s a mechanic. Not a grease monkey, a mechanic,” Stan said. This had to do with some private joke between him and Pop, and they guffawed raucously.

Tillie eyed Stan witheringly and turned to me with a smile. “How about Jackie boy. Thirteen years old!”

“Yeah, congratulations,” Stan sneered, “your best years are behind you.”

Anya elbowed him. “Oh stop. And how about little Mary, are you lovebirds still going at it?”

Mom’s eyes peeked up from the menu.

“You mean Myra,” I said. “I don’t think we should be talking about her.”

“You better not be seeing that girl,” Mom said.

“But she’s such a little darling,” Tillie exclaimed.

Mom bit her tongue and hid her face behind the menu.

“The Joyners are crazy,” Stan said. “They sicced Reedy on me just ’cause I was walking past their house. What kind of justice is that? Do we still live in America?”

“What are you talking about?” Mom said.

“I popped Gaylord good.” Stan brandished his fist.

“You got in a fight with Gaylord Joyner?”

“I was walking past their house and they called the cops. I wasn’t doing nothing, I was just walking along minding my own business.”

“Did Officer Reedy show up?” Tillie asked.

“How is it everyone seems to know Officer Reedy?” Mom said. “What’s going on that I don’t know about?”

“I was out for a stroll and I walked past their house and they up and called the cops, like for no reason at all.

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