Alone at 90 Foot by Katherine Holubitsky Read Free Book Online

not like it’s a party or something.”
    â€œ
Please
. I’d do it for you.”
    I’d looked at her big eyes all full of Tony Lasserman. One thing about Joanne is, she doesn’t give up easily. The thing about me is, I do. “Oh, alright,” I’d reluctantly agreed.
    So far, we’ve jumped about three dozen monster slugs driven out into the open by the rain. And we’ve bumped into about a million people. They are mostly dressed in yellow hooded raincoats and black rubber boots. They are tromping through the thick foliage, stirring up the smell of cedar. They are plodding into tangled places where hardly anyone ever goes. As you can imagine, the mood down here is real grim. In fact, the only ones appearing to enjoy themselves in all this mass hysteria are John Robbel and Tony Lasserman. Joanne and I find them down by Ninety Foot, laughing coarsely, jabbing beneath the ferns with big sticks, kicking at clumps of moss.
    â€œYou’re wasting your time. You’ll never find her,” Joanne tells Tony, nimbly striking up a conversation. “No one will.” Her voice kind of lingers after she has spoken, echoing off the granite walls.
    Tony continues to prod at a mass of sticks and moss caught in the bank by the creek. He removes a beer can with the tip of his stick and hucks it acrossthe water. It clangs loudly against the rock on the other side. “Somebody’s going to.”
    â€œMaybe. Ten years from now when they’re out walking their dog. There’ll be a tiny story next to the obits. The headline will read, ‘Bones Identified As Girl Who Went Missing Ten Years Ago.’”
    Tony prods for another few seconds, then leans on his stick and looks at Joanne. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He draws his hand through the air and kind of laughs, “‘Dental Records Confirm It. Only her dentist knew for sure. She had Dracula teeth.’”
    I think it’s kind of lame, not to mention morbid, but Joanne laughs out loud. But then, it doesn’t really matter what
she
thinks. Because she’s in love. I don’t quite get this thing she’s developed for Tony lately. I mean, he’s alright, I guess. He’s no Jason Priestly in the looks department, but he does have this big overwhelming laugh. Joanne likes that. So now she stands looking at him. And because she liked his joke so much, he stands looking at her. Like it’s the first time they’ve noticed each other, even though for three years now, they’ve been in the same class. Half a minute passes and still neither of them says anything. It’s like some invisible cupid somewhere has pressed a button and put them on pause, while they sort through their confusing thoughts.
    Oh, Tony! Oh, Joanne! How could I have beenso blind! Here I’ve been searching all of my life, when all along, you were the one! Crash.
    I don’t know about you, but I get very uncomfortable in these situations. Not only that, it’s real boring for the not-involved. I watch a gull glide high above me. I know it’s a young one; his belly is still gray. He lands by the creek about twenty yards down. I shuffle my feet. “Uh-humm.” Excuse me. I know sparks are flying here, but can life as we know it continue on?
    Sometimes I could strangle Joanne for the predicaments she puts me in. Like, what am I supposed to do here? Make some excuse like suddenly I’ve got this real pressing appointment or something? Or am I supposed to act like their moderator? You know, try to get conversation going because they’re both so lovestruck they’ve forgotten how to talk? Whatever. Right now, all I want to do is say something — anything — just to relieve the extreme tenseness of the situation. So guys, looks like it might rain again tomorrow. What do you think? Or how about — Hey, Tony, what about those Grizzlies? But I know if I do, my voice will streak