Stumptown Kid by Carol Gorman & Ron J. Findley

Author:Carol Gorman & Ron J. Findley [Gorman, Carol; Findley, Ron J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497694408
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Published: 2005-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I walked down to Woolworth’s the next morning to get the writing paper and envelopes for Luther. I put them on the counter next to the cash register where Mom was working.

“What’s this, honey?” Mom asked.

“It’s for Luther,” I said, handing her the dollar. I looked around. Nobody was standing nearby, so I leaned in and whispered, “Mom, could you just call me Charlie?”

Surprise took over her face, and I thought she might laugh. But she clamped her lips together and nodded. “Sure, hon—” She shook her head and smiled. “Sure, Charlie. Sorry. It’s a hard habit to break after eleven years, but I’ll try to remember.”

I nodded.

She looked at the clock. “Say, it’s time for my break. Let’s get a strawberry lemonade over at the lunch counter.”

Mom waved to another clerk who came and took her place at the cash register. I followed Mom to the back of the store. We sat down on round, cushy seats and leaned our elbows on the smooth lunch counter. Mom looked up and said, “Nancy? Two strawberry lemonades, please.”

She turned to me. “I’ve been meaning to ask you—what would you like for your birthday supper? It’s coming up fast.”

I thought for a minute. “How about hamburgers?” I asked. “Could we cook ’em on the charcoal grill?”

“Sure,” Mom said.

“And can Luther come?”

“Oh.” Her smile faded. “Well, I—I thought we’d ask Vern to join us. He knows your birthday’s on the sixteenth, and he has a present for you.”

“I don’t want Vern there,” I said. “Just Luther.”

Nancy came over and set down two icy glasses of lemonade and two straws inside paper wrappers. “Hi, Charlie,” she said. Nancy just got engaged a few months ago to the new dentist in town. She likes to flash her diamond ring in people’s faces when she hands them their drinks. “I hear you and your friends have a new coach.”

“Yeah.” Like I said, word travels fast in this town.

“I think every person I’ve seen this morning has had something to say about it.”

“Thank you, Nancy,” Mom said. I could tell she was hoping that Nancy wouldn’t stand there talking to us.

“Me, I just say live and let live,” Nancy said.

Mom smiled and nodded but didn’t say anything. I guess Nancy finally took the hint, because she walked away.

We tore the paper off the straws and poked them into our lemonades. I wrapped my hands around the cold glass and took a sip. The sweet drink slid down my throat. I closed my eyes for a second and let the coolness spread through me.

“Charlie.” Mom swiveled her seat a little toward me, her face looking troubled. “I hope you can learn to like Vern.”

I told her the truth. “I don’t see how I’ll ever like him. He’s about as far away from Dad as anybody can get.”

“Honey, you can’t compare him to your dad,” she said. “There was only one Bill Nebraska.”

“But it seems like Vern’s always pretending to be somebody he’s not.”

Mom sipped her lemonade and look at me sideways.

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