Bone Gap by Laura Ruby Read Free Book Online Page A

gnawed in places.
    Finn fingered the gouges. “Horses will sometimes chew the wood.”
    â€œHorses don’t have fangs. And the Rudes don’t have horses.”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t the corn.”
    â€œHow do you know?” said Miguel. He squinted at the field across the street. “Anything could be in there.”
    For a second, Finn almost saw her, Roza, crouched in the plants, laughing at him. Then he shook the sun out of his eyes and started removing the staples that held the wires in place on the chewed-up post.
    â€œDid you see her?”
    Finn fumbled with the pliers. “What?”
    â€œAmber Hass. She just rode by on her bike.”
    Finn let out a breath. “No, I didn’t.”
    â€œI might have told her you’d be here today.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œMaybe you should take your shirt off.”
    â€œWhat? Why?”
    â€œThen she’ll come over here.”
    â€œCut it out.”
    â€œDon’t you want to talk to her?”
    â€œNot really.”
    â€œShe’s unbelievable, man.”
    She can’t do that thing with the bees. “She’s okay.”
    â€œOkay? You’re not a normal human.”
    â€œThat’s what everyone keeps telling me.”
    â€œThere she is again, riding the other way.”
    â€œMaybe she’s here for you,” said Finn. “Maybe you should take your shirt off. Isn’t that why you work out so much?”
    â€œShe’s not here for me.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œHer dad once asked my dad if he knew any gangsters in Mexico.”
    â€œIsn’t your dad from Venezuela?”
    â€œDo I really have to explain this to you?”
    â€œThe hell with her dad,” said Finn. “Maybe Amber likes Mexicans.”
    â€œWhich might help if I were Mexican. To her dad, I’m just another brown kid.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with that?” Finn said, though he knew what Miguel was talking about. Roza was the sort of color that older ladies first called “dark” and then later called “olive,” as if being green was somehow nicer. “Maybe Amber would like you even if you were—”
    â€œDo not tell me you were going to say green. Or purple.”
    â€œI definitely wasn’t going to say purple.”
    Miguel pointed at Finn’s face. “Well, you’re red already. That shit’s going to hurt tomorrow. And it serves you right for all this ‘We Are the World’ crap.”
    â€œYou’re changing the subject.”
    â€œMy arms are too long.”
    â€œThat’s good. Amber will always be able to spot you in a crowd.”
    Miguel ripped a staple from the wood. “I see why you get beat up all the time.”
    â€œTwice isn’t all the time,” said Finn.
    â€œWhat’s Sean say about it?”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œAbout subsidies for corn farmers,” Miguel said. “About your face being smashed in, dumbass.”
    Finn stabbed the ground with his shovel, stamped down on the edge to bury it deeper. “What should he say about it?”
    â€œNothing, I guess,” Miguel said.
    They dug for a while, the only sound the scrape of the shovels against the rock and the dirt. Then Miguel started to laugh.
    â€œWhat?” Finn said.
    â€œYour brother. Remember that Halloween when we were around seven or eight and those big-city kids came down to the corn maze dressed like skeletons?”
    â€œThey were chasing us,” Finn said. “They wanted our candy.”
    â€œAnd your brother jumped on Amber’s pink bicycle?”
    Finn smiled. “The one with the white basket. And the flowers.”
    â€œHe caught up with them, took a flying leap off the bicycle, and cracked their heads together? Knocked them out cold. That’s gangster.”
    â€œHe got in trouble for that.”
    â€œNot too much,” said Miguel. “Jonas Apple hates city