Superstition by James Blakey

Author:James Blakey
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781648984921
Publisher: City Owl Press

CHAPTER 20

SUNDAY 5:27PM

Mike: Where you at?

Jerry: hot dog king

Jerry waited for the next text. After thirty seconds, he gave up and put the phone down.

“Geraldine Ferraro?” Darla drummed her fingers on the wood grain surface of the table.

“She ran for vice president.” For the first time, Jerry noticed Darla’s nails were painted lavender, matching her overalls.

“I know who she was, Jerry. I got a five in AP US History.” She tapped her phone and read. “On July 12, 1984, Walter Mondale announced Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro would be his running mate. That’s one day before Peggy Johnson died!”

“It’s a coincidence. Ferraro was on Wysocki’s mind because she was in the news when whatever happened with Peggy...happened.”

“Are you sure, Jerry? You don’t think it’s the disembodied spirit of Geraldine Ferraro, still bitter over her crushing loss to Reagan and Bush, killing off the student body?” Darla raised her hands and wiggled her fingers. “Oogedy, boogedy!”

“I’m so glad I brought you along.”

“Here you go.” Bev, the counter girl, slid two plastic red trays onto the table. Three hotdogs, a bag of barbeque chips, Coke for Jerry, and lemonade for Darla.

Bev wore a Hot Dog King T-shirt and a denim skirt. Jerry kept his eyes forward on Darla. Last month, Busby blew up at him when his eyes ever so briefly lingered on Bev's legs. Jerry didn’t want to screw things up with Darla. Or was he actually—gulp—maturing?

Jerry ripped open the bag and spread the chips across the tray. “These hot dogs are great, I promise you.”

“It’s not Cascata, but I guess it will do.”

Jerry’s stomach tightened. Darla was obviously used to finer dining options than he could afford. He thought she might have overheard the conversation he had with his dad about the emergency credit card but guessed not. If they were really going out, she needed to understand the state of his finances.

“Darla, I need to tell you something.”

She focused her big green eyes on Jerry. “Please don’t tell me you’re in love. We’ve only been going out for like five hours.”

Jerry almost choked on his hot dog. “What? No!”

“Gotcha again!” Darla smiled all teeth.

Jerry’s face burned bright red.

“Wow, I really did get you.”

“Darla, please be serious. This is important.”

“Okay.” Darla made a somber face and folded her hands on the table. “Go for it.”

“Darla, I think you’re great.”

“Don’t say the L word.”

Jerry glared, and Darla stifled a smile.

“But I need you to understand that my finances aren’t as robust as I’d like. I enjoyed taking you to Cascata, but that can’t be a common occurrence. That’s what I was talking about with my dad. I used the credit card he gave me for emergencies to pay for dinner.”

“The Chronicle doesn’t pay you?”

Jerry shook his head.

“Or The Underground?”

“Afraid not.”

“We talked about the job prospect for journalists before. It’s not too late to change your major to chemical engineering. We could be study buddies.”

Jerry laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“What about social media?” Darla tapped her phone and held it out to Jerry, displaying her Instagram.

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.