3.2 As the World Dies Untold Tales Vol. 2 by Rhiannon Frater Read Free Book Online

and he left me for some stupid peroxide blond with a fake orange tan!”
    Lenore rolled her eyes. “He has bad taste.”
    “ Hey!”
    “ I meant with whathisface. Not you. You’re adorable.”
    “ Really?”
    Lenore frowned and said reluctantly, “Yes, for a melodramatic princess.”
    Ken gave her a pout, then shook his head. “I’m not melodramatic. He ripped my heart out. Tore it out and flung it away, then ran after it and stomped on it, then ground it into the dirt and...”
    Mr. Cloy pushed open the door and peered in at them. “Y ’a ll hear what’s going on in Austin?”
    Ken set his chin on his fist and shook his head. He tried to tone down his N ancy B oy inclinations when around the men in town. They were actually quite nice to him and one had even told him that “for a queer boy, you’re okay.” B ut he was also a businessman and he tried not to cause a stir among potential clients. There were enough stupid rumors about gay people in the world that he did not want anyone painting on him.
    “ Nope . W hat’s up with Austin?”
    “ Got riots there, too. It’s really getting crazy. It’s like all the big cities are just going nuts,” Mr. Cloy said, letting the door slam shut behind him. It was a heavy wood door with a leaded glass window set into it. Thick black velvet curtains with gold thread brocade covered the two big bay windows in the front of the store and kept out the hot sun.
    Lenore broke down the box the hair extensions had come in and sighed . “Something bad going on. Maybe some bad crack or something.”
    Mr. Cloy scratched his chin. “It’s on purpose. I know it. Someone has put something in the air or in the water. You know that old guy on public access is always going on about that stuff.”
    Ken knew exactly whom he was talking about. The geezer would come on public access once a week to ramble on about the government creating clones to do their dirty work. Back in the day, Darryl had watched it religiously. Of course, that was before Darryl hit his midlife cris i s, sold the house without telling Ken, got himself a bimbo boyfriend, and hightailed it out of town leaving only a note on his pillow telling Ken he had to move out and that the shop was his.
    “ Well, I don’t like the news. I don’t like hearing sad stuff or scary stuff, but if something major is going down, I think it has to be those crazy Muslims ,” Ken decided. “Seriously, they hate us.”
    “ Oh, Lord,” Lenore drawled.
    “ They do! Because we’re rich and stuff.”
    Lenore walked over and folded her arms across her ample bosom. “Okay, so they hate us. But why come and put a bunch of bad stuff in the water so we start eating each other and being all crazy ? ”
    “ Because they want to destroy us from within ‘ cause they hate our freedom,” Mr. Cloy told her. “Honey, you’re still young-”
    “ Do not honey me!” Lenore snapped. “I know what is going on just as much as you do and they hate us cause we’re over there messing in their business.”
    “ Look here, Missy Democrat,” Ken said going all-Republican on her. “If they weren’t messing in our business-”
    “ It is the responsibility of the United States of America as the only superpower in the world to police-” Mr. Cloy started up.
    “ Oh, and what about China?” Lenore cut in.
    It was an old argument between the three of them. Ken was an old school Republican that still adored Reagan. Mr. Cloy was a Neo-Conservative Republican that disagreed completely with Ken’s sexual orientation, yet liked him anyway. Lenore was a hardcore Democrat. And all three loved to debate and argue. It was almost gleeful when they started up.
    Ken was about to unleash his best speech on China when the sound of police sirens pierced their conversation. Mr. Cloy, who had been making a point about the moral superiority of the United States, stopped in mid-sentence.
    A car outside slammed on its brakes and there was a loud screech as they locked.