Triplines (9781936364107) by Chang Leonard

Author:Chang, Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Midpoint Trade Books Inc
Published: 2014-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

23

Umee has a large bruise on the side of her face that spreads over her cheek and up to her eye, and because of this she doesn’t want to leave the house. She asks Lenny to buy a newspaper on his way home from school—she wants to start looking for jobs.

Lenny has so many things to do today that he barely pays attention in class. They’re preparing for some kind of achievement test, but he can’t concentrate on this. He just doesn’t care. Instead he wonders which Post Office to go to—the one near the train station always gives him a money order, but he can go to the one near the school during lunch, and send off the order right there, since he has forms with him. He worries that the clerks at this new Post Office might think he’s too young. He also worries about which newspaper to buy, and does it matter if it’s a morning or afternoon edition? He worries about the trip line in the woods, hoping he set it correctly. He worries about the dent in the Cadillac and how much yardwork he’ll have to do to pay it off. He has been grinding his teeth more every night.

During lunch he leaves the school and walks to the Post Office on Merrick Road, waiting in line with a few others on their lunch break—a man in a tie, women in blouses and skirts—and when it’s his turn the woman behind the counter looks down at him with a smile. When he asks for a money order for forty-two dollars, the clerk says, “Of course, honey.” She puts the order in a small machine and types in the numbers. The machine spits out the money order.

Lenny asks, “It doesn’t matter how young I am?”

“As long as you have the cash, honey, you can have a money order. That’s forty-two fifty, please.”

He pays this, and fills out address forms, making sure the carbon duplicate is legible, then sends off the top copy with the order form. Every time he does this he’s amazed at what kind of information he can find. He’s expecting more martial arts catalogs any day.

At the nearby drugstore he finds two newspapers, News-day and the New York Post, and also sees a copy of Merrick Life, which he buys too. He’s already used up his lunch hour, and he hasn’t even touched his sandwich. He takes a few bites while hurrying back to school, and feeds the crows.

He sees Frankie picking on a younger kid, another walker returning to school. Frankie pushes him off the sidewalk, and the kid stumbles onto the street. Lenny walks toward them, looking around to make sure no teacher’s aide is nearby. Frankie sees him and backs away.

“Haven’t you learned anything?” Lenny asks him. He puts down his back pack. The kid on the ground stops sniffling.

“Why do you pick on weaker kids? Why don’t you pick on me now?” Lenny pushes him hard.

“You better leave me alone.

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