Douse (Book One: At the Edge of a Hurricane) by June Hydra Read Free Book Online Page B

of his brain. Would I still be interested in Bishop if he didn’t
take care of himself? If he dressed in ripped, oily sweats and had greasy hair
from not bathing?
     “Is
she smart?” I ask.
    “So
much more than us,” Carmella says. “So much more. She had hard life
in Angola. She lives easy now easier now in the capital city, Luanda.”
    “How
is life there?”
    “It’s
gotten better. Much violence has ended. The government is very corrupt though.
Civil war broke out before, our families had to leave. The government still
takes so much from the average person—most are very poor.”
    “So
much corruption,” Maria says, “it’s bad. Like you can feel
the pressure from those above coming down. It’s like the rain. You see
the clouds and know what’s next. Predictable.”
    “Are
your parents okay?”
    Carmella
stutters, then clears her throat. “They are dead,” she says.
“Murder.”
    “So
sorry! I’m so sorry.”
    “You
didn’t know,” Carmella says. “It’s okay.”
    “Besides,
they passed a long time ago,” Maria says.
    “Still,
I should’ve known better than to say something bad like that. I really
apologize.”
    “It’s
okay, beautiful girl, think nothing,” Carmella says. She adjusts her
chiffon shirt and cranes her neck towards me. “You didn’t
know,” she says.
    Carmella
and Maria exchange a quip in Portuguese. The sounds uttered from their mouths
ionize the air with lustful allure. Too bad for Piranha, Americans don’t
have sexy accents. We’re too ubiquitous for that.
    Carmella unzips her Chanel purse. After digging through for five
minutes, she finally produces the one-hundred fifty bucks down payment we
agreed on. “We take up your time though didn’t mean to. Here is the
assignment we have to do.”
    Carmella
passes a sheet off. Their report has strict guidelines, though nothing crazy
for an intro English class, just a general paper where the students are to
learn how to argue, logos and pathos, that kind of stuff. The page comes with a
rubric, proper punctuation, grammar, spelling. Easy.
    “When
will you be done?” Maria says.
    “Within
the week. We’ll send it to you or we can meet up or whatever.”
    We
all get up from the table. As we depart at the parking lot, Carmella says,
“You’re beautiful, don’t look down so much.”

CHAPTER 5
    “Why
didn’t you tell me their parents died?”
    “I
don’t know everything about people. I’m not Jesus here.”
    “You
knew everything else.”
    “General,
basic info. I don’t know what goes on in the deepest part of a
person’s life.” Caddy stirs his coffee and pours sugar from the
sides. “That would be snooping,” he says.
    “As
if. You’re the king of that. I bet you even know what brand of tampons I
and Piranha use.”
    “I
wouldn’t need to snoop far for that info. The garbage can’s always
leaking anyways.”
    I
rise from the table and sigh. “How do you find all that stuff on people
then? Like knowing that their family’s fled Angola?”
    Caddy
taps his forehead. “International Studies. And you thought it was a joke
major when we started. ‘Ew, what’re you gonna do with that,
Caddy?’”
    “Okay,
fine, color me wrong.” The coffee pot gurgles out a thick stream. I cup
my hands around the steamy air it makes.
    “How’s
your fling with Bishop going by the way?”
    “We
haven’t scheduled date three yet.”
    “And
why not?” I don’t answer immediately, so Caddy interjects with a,
“Are you scaaareddd?”
    “I’m
never scared of anything. No. I’m waiting on him.” I pour coffee
into a mug stamped with an American flag. The edges of the flag have faded, so
what does Piranha do? Color them in, making sure to use permanent American
markers.
    “Why
wait? You’re supposed to be the assertive one.”
    “If
I seem needy, he’ll run. There’s nothing worse than a desperate or
needy person.”
    “You’re
not needy for expressing interest.”
    “I
will be. I can feel the Spadeness