Close Out by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online

down. The Alien Frog Beast planned to be two thousand miles away with a new name, a new driver’s license, and a new store. The only thing he’d be missing was his younger son.
    Lucas’s father still hadn’t moved. Kai couldn’t imagine why.
    â€œThat was a nice ride you had over in Fairport,” Buzzy finally said.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œLucas says you might compete in the Northeast Championship here in a few weeks,” Lucas’s father said.
    â€œMight”
    â€œI hope you will. It would be good for him. He needs someone to light a fire under him.”
    â€œYou never know,” Kai said, thinking back to the Fourth of July. “It might explode in his face.”
    Buzzy’s features hardened. Without a word he got into the Hummer and drove away. Kai went through the gate and knocked on the door to Teddy’s workshop.
    She didn’t answer. That was strange. Kai knew she was in there. Maybe she’d gone into the shaping room and couldn’t hear him. He knocked again. This time a little louder.
    â€œGo away.”
    â€œTeddy, it’s me, Kai.”
    â€œSo? What part of the sentence didn’t you understand? ‘Go’? Or ‘away’?”
    â€œCome on, Teddy.”
    She didn’t answer.
    â€œTeddy?” Kai tried again.
    â€œGet away from my workshop.”
    â€œYou already used that line,” Kai reminded her. “Or at least something pretty close to it.”
    Again Teddy was silent.
    â€œLook, Teddy, I admire what you said to Buzzy. The guy’s a cold-blooded bastard. But it’s hard to go up against someone like that alone. We all need friends and I’m one of yours. So how about it?”
    â€œOh, all right, come in.”
    Kai pushed the door open. Teddy was sitting on a stool by the workbench, a defeated slope to her shoulders as she stared at the floor. She was a small woman, but today she looked even smaller.
    â€œI guess it’s obvious that I heard part of that conversation with Buzzy,” Kai said.
    â€œGreedy, power-hungry son of a bitch,” Teddy muttered.
    â€œI didn’t quite get what he wanted,” Kai said. “Your boards with a Sun Haven Surf brand logo on them?”
    Teddy swept her arm around the workshop. “This is my life. It may not seem like much, but it’s all I’ve got and it’s the only thing I do. I make the best boards I can, and every surfer around here knows that when they see a plain white board with the handwrittenletters
TL
on the stringer it came from this shop and these hands.”
    â€œThen don’t let him do it,” Kai said.
    â€œHow can I stop him?” Teddy asked. “You and I both know that almost all my business comes from orders he takes at the store. The custom boards, the repairs … All that work comes from Sun Haven Surf.”
    â€œOpen your own business,” Kai said. “Custom-shaped boards and ding repairs. You’ve got a shop. All you’d have to do is advertise in the local paper.”
    â€œYou think I’d let
strangers
come in here?” Teddy asked. “Wander all over my property? Are you crazy?”
    â€œThen maybe you could rent a small place in town,” Kai said. “It would cost you more, but you’d probably get more business. Walk-ins and stuff.”
    Teddy gave him a curious look. “How does a kid your age know about this?”
    â€œIt’s what I’ve been doing for the past two years,” Kai said.
    Teddy blinked. “Oh, right, with your father. Wait a minute. What are you doing here? You work for him during the day.”
    â€œNot anymore,” Kai said.
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œHe’s a crook,” Kai said. “I got to the point where I couldn’t take it.”
    â€œSo I’m not the only one who’s out of a job right now,” Teddy realized.
    â€œYou could say that.”
    â€œAnd you think you learned