Angry Management by Chris Crutcher Read Free Book Online Page B

I say. Sarah sits up, her scarred face streaked, hair matted.
    “I was told on my radio this car’s been here more than two hours.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He bends down, peers in. Sarah glances at him, then away. But he sees her and must think he’s looking at some of the most seriously pathetic shit he’s seen all day. He nods. “This is unusual enough for probable cause,” he says. “I could search your car.”
    “For what?”
    “Drugs, whatever.”
    “Man, if you search this car and find some drugs, I’ll split them with you sixty-forty. If there were drugs in this car, I can assure you you’d have to do stomach surgery to find them. This has been one perfectly shitty day.”
    I guess the truth has a ring of truth to it, because instead of making me pop the trunk, he says, “Well, maybe tomorrow will be a better one. You can make mine better by moving down to the rest stop.”
    In Winnemucca, we stop for food. Neither of us is hungry, but we’ve been in this car long enough that if I don’t get out my fat ass will melt into the upholstery. Plus, the last thing in the world I have to be is hungry, to want to eat. Sarah orders orange juice and coffee and an English muffin. I’m tempted to get the Infinite Burger. The menu says if you eat it all, it’s free; if not, you pay double. I usually warm up to that kind of challenge real quick, but it would not be impressive in the wayI currently want to be impressive. “I’ll take the club sandwich,” I tell the waiter.
    “Good choice,” she says.
    “And I’d like the club tenderized.”
    That gets a little smile out of Sarah, though the waitress looks at me like I’m out of my big fat mind. Guess they don’t do puns in Winnemucca.
    “What in the world am I gonna do now?” Sarah says as the waitress leaves to put in our order.
    “Probably best to sit with it awhile,” I say. “Sometimes if you do that, an answer comes that you wouldn’t expect.
    She slouches. “Maybe. I don’t guess I have a choice. It’s not like I have a plan.”
    “I’ve got a plan,” I tell her. “Maybe not a plan; maybe an idea.”
    She shrugs. “Let’s hear it.”
    “You ever had a boyfriend?”
    “Do I look like I’ve ever had a boyfriend? Jesus, Angus.”
    “Well, I’ve never had a girlfriend, so I’m seeing a starting place.”
    “A starting place.” Man, Sarah can be major-league sarcastic when she wants to be. If I were the kind of guy to get intimidated, that might do it. Come to think ofit, I am the kind of guy to get intimidated. But I have a history of overcoming that.
    “Why don’t we be in love?”
    “Why don’t we be in love?” Again, it sounded better when I said it. “How do you just be in love?”
    “You just do it, I think. You hold hands and tell each other shit you don’t tell anyone else. You go cool places. You do…what we did last night.”
    The waitress delivers our food just in time to hear, “What we did last night.” Sarah blushes and looks down, but the waitress doesn’t skip a beat. I bet what we did last night gets done a lot in Winnemucca. Unless you’re a card shark, it doesn’t look like there’s a lot else to do.
    Sarah eats quietly while I look between bread slices to see why they call it a club sandwich. “What do you have to lose?”
    Her head snaps up. Fire burns in her eyes. “I have everything to lose, Angus Bethune. Everything. You want to know how I’ve stayed alive so far? By never wanting any thing. I’ve never asked for a Christmas present or a birthday present or even dessert. I take what is given to me. When you don’t have anything, you can’t lose anything. Shit, I’m scared to death ’cause Ms. Lemry and her husband want to adopt me. I’m eighteen. Legally it doesn’t even mean anything and I’m still afraid of it. Myother fat friend, Moby? He’s going off to school on the coast. You know what happens to people who go their separate ways? They go their separate ways. I’m terrified he’ll