Boy Midflight by Charlie David Read Free Book Online Page B

haven’t hurt like this since my sister body-slammed me in third grade!” Michelle exclaims, still bracing her back. I laugh and scoop her up in my arms cradle-style.
    “Here, princess, this better?”
    “Oh yeah! Ridin’ in style!” she quips, smacking me in the ass. “Giddy up, little doggy!” As I run around with her spinning and laughing, I see the embodiment of pain walking toward us.
    “Guess who’s doing the Butchart Gardens show this summer?” Chris asks, his face beaming. I set Michelle down, and she runs into his arms, shrieking.
    “Yes! Right on, boy! When did you find out?”
    “I just went home for dinner and there was a message on my machine,” Chris explains. “Come on! Let’s go see if you guys are in. I just know we all are. We have to be.” The three of us run downstairs to the phone, and I prod Michelle to go first. She starts to dial but Chris hangs up before she can finish. “Wait, before you do, let’s just say that we are best friends and whatever happens, happens. Regardless, we are spending the summer together, deal?”
    “Deal!” Michelle chimes in.
    I think of how great that would be, the three of us together. As I look from Michelle to Chris, I search for some kind of sign behind his eyes. I don’t want to be hurt again.
    “Deal,” I say, grabbing Michelle’s hand as she starts to dial.
    “Hello? Mandy, this is Michelle. I need you to check if I have any messages.”
    “Uhhh… yeah…. Your mom called, and someone from Butchart Gardens wondering where to send you a contract.”
    “Eeeeee! Thanks, Mandy!” Michelle squeals, hanging up the phone, “I’m in, I’m in!”
    “I knew it!” Chris hugs her. “All right, Ashley, your turn, three’s a charm.”
    I pick up the phone and dial hurriedly. No new messages.
    “Hey, it’s cool, Ashley. I’m sure they’re just in the middle of doing their booking calls,” Michelle encourages me and rubs my back.
    I try three more times in the following ten minutes and am greeted by the same taunting voice: “You have no new messages.”
    “Hey, man, don’t sweat it. Let’s just get to class,” Chris says, putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me away from the phone. I feel angry, like the loser who didn’t make it even though I still don’t know. The evening classes drag on, and I habitually sneak out to use the phone. The end of the night comes with that annoying recorded voice ringing in my ears.
    “I don’t think I made it, guys. I would have heard by now,” I vent to Chris and Michelle as we leave college for the night.
    “It’s cool, you’ll make it. Listen, call me as soon as you hear,” Michelle implores, kissing me on the cheek.
    “Yeah, me too, okay?” Chris says, looking at me intently. “Do you want me to go with you?”
    “Sure. I mean, we can walk together up to the corner of Pandora and Oak Bay,” I respond cautiously after a moment’s hesitation. I turn and wave to Michelle, who is already walking away from us, both hands in the air with her fingers crossed.
    “God, I love her!” I exclaim, not so much to Chris as to myself. “That girl can make me laugh like no one else.”
    Chris and I start to walk down Chaucer, one of the three “poet” streets that lead from the college to Foul Bay. I love to stroll the “poets” on my way home. Shakespeare and Milton join Chaucer to form the triumvirate. The streets are crowded with a mecca of tiny houses with neatly tailored gardens. The spring evening is dark and cool, in stark contrast to the unusually warm island day. Stars are beginning to peek out in clusters, and the moon is already high and full with eerie moon dogs encircling it.
    “Listen, Chris, I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get home tonight. Maybe I’m in, maybe I’m not. You and Michelle made it, though. So I want you two to live together for the summer. It doesn’t make sense for me to be there with you. I still have a great place to live and you need