Owl in the Oak Tree: A Novel by Penny Walker Veraar

Author:Penny Walker Veraar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GG Publishing
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Alex

Chapter Twenty-Two

The basement was cool and dusty, lit by a single bulb. The furnace rumbled, then cut off, startling Alex. Christ, will you relax!

He blew on the top of a large cardboard carton. A cloud of dust formed and fell. How had this dirt escaped his mother’s watchful eye? She was always looking for something to straighten, clean, disinfect. Not that she did it herself. She just demanded it be done.

He heaved the box to one side and glanced behind it. Not there. Other things⁠—empty boxes that normally held the Christmas tree and decorations, several tangled strings of unused lights, a shopping bag of leftover wrapping paper ready for next year⁠—lay scattered in the wake of his search. Not what he was looking for. He scanned the room again. His skateboard and two bikes propped against the wall. An old chest of drawers stuffed with discarded clothes. There, in the dim corner, he spotted them; he moved closer. They looked good at first glance. He grabbed a T-shirt from the chest and dusted off the top of the bag: four woods, a hybrid, one through nine irons, PF wedge, sand wedge, putter. A complete set, an expensive set, and it would be three or four months before anyone looked for it. By then he would have bought them back. No sweat. He lifted the bag over his shoulder.

Heavy. Jake must be strong as an ox to carry this, but then, he rides a cart mostly. He’s not that strong.

Alex climbed the stairs, careful not to let the bag bang against the wall, leave marks as evidence, and turned off the light. Before opening the door, he listened, although no one was home.

Paranoid! Jake’s company Christmas party. They’ll be the last ones to leave.

He walked straight to the garage, where he had parked his Mustang to avoid being seen loading the clubs. With a sigh of relief, he allowed the hefty load to slide from his shoulder, opened the trunk, heaved the clubs up and in, then quickly slammed it shut.

\“Bruh, these are great. We should be able to get at least a couple hundred for them.” Bryan took off the head covers and examined the driver, then the three-wood.

“What if this guy, Leo, thinks they’re stolen?” Alex asked.

“Leo couldn’t give a shit, man. And besides, they ain’t stolen. They’re your ol’ man’s.”

“Right. It’s his fault I don’t have money in the first place. Mom would give me plenty if it wasn’t for him, and he’s loaded.”

Bryan nodded in agreement.

Alex couldn’t stay mad at Bryan long, so they were friends again. He’d thought about quitting and didn’t use for a few days after his panic attack, but that didn’t work out; getting high was all he could think about. He needed more stash, so he went to Bryan. It was as though nothing had ever happened, and neither one of them said anything. After all, it was only a panic attack. Besides, if not Bryan⁠—and Trip⁠—who would Alex hang with? The scene at Bryan’s house was no big deal anyway.

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