A SHORT STORY
FROM THE AUTHOR
OF HUNTING LILA
SARAH ALDERSON
Catching
Suki
SARAH ALDERSON
Catching
Suki
A SHORT STORY
1
Copyright © 2012 Sarah Alderson
Demos is standing by the side of the bus tapping his finger on his watch as This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
I make my approach. I am walking as fast as I can but the grass is slowing me No reproduction without permission.
down because Mr. Blahnik designed these shoes with red carpets in mind, All rights reserved.
not fields. But nobody seems to realise this apart from me, because we keep The right of Sarah Alderson to be identified as the author of this parking in fields by the side of freeways and never on Rodeo Drive.
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77
‘Suki,’ Demos says, before I can put one toe on the step, ‘I swear to God and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
if you buy one more pair of shoes I’m going to have Ryder sift every god-This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and damn thought of fashion out of your head. You’ll be wearing overalls and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living plastic clogs from Walmart for the rest of your days.’
or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
I stagger back against the side of the RV.
For more information about the author please visit
I knew I should have snuck in later with Nate’s help. The problem with
www.sarahalderson.com
living on this stupid bus with a million other people, one of them another mind-reader, is that there’s no privacy. And that’s not the only problem.
There’s no closet space, either.
‘You wouldn’t sift me,’ I say to Demos, tipping up my chin, ‘because you need me. And I need shoes. Ergo ,’ I use this word I just learnt from Nate,
‘ Ergo , you need my shoes.’
‘You’re not the only mind-reader, Suki, we’d manage without you,’
Demos warns, but he’s smiling as he says it. ‘We’re going to need a container ship to carry all your shoes if this keeps on.’
He is always grumbling: ooh the baddies ooh we have to run oooh too many shoes… I roll my eyes and move past him to climb up into the bus.
‘How do you even pay for all this stuff?’ he asks.
1
I turn on the step and raise an eyebrow in a perfect arch and give him a
‘Four hundred today, maybe,’ Ryder pipes up from the sofa where he look I learnt from watching Judge Judy, though my way is far more attrac-is still playing with his Wii. ‘But how much did you spend yesterday? And tive. ‘ You are asking me that question?’
the day before that? Even the International Monetary Fund is going to start I see the smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. He looks less serious and noticing his credit card bill soon.’
less like a brain freezer when he smiles, which is about a once a month occur-
‘What is this International Money Fund?’ I ask in alarm. ‘Can you rence. I wondered at first what made Alicia go all Bella Swan over him because sift it?’
Alicia is as hot as any supermodel and Demos is no Edward Cullen but then
‘OK, people, listen up.’
I read her mind one day, totally by accident of course, and I saw just exactly It’s Demos. He’s standing in the doorway.
why, and now it’s hard to look Demos in the eye properly, and when I’m
‘Are we leaving?’ I ask. I think it’s about time we checked into a hotel around Alicia – who is also a mind-reader – I have to do a lot of la-la la-ing .
with a swimming pool and room service. It isn’t as if we don’t have the
‘Go on, get inside,’ Demos says, whacking the bag I’m holding.
money. And even if we didn’t, and the International whatever Fund cut off Demos has a history involving banks. And that history does not involve my dad’s credit card, Demos could always pay a ‘trip’ to the bank. I keep paying money into one,
Learning to Kill: Stories