Evolution by L.L. Bartlett Read Free Book Online Page B

bucks. But then I had another bright idea. Yeah, it could still work, but first, I made a few modifications.
    Curtis didn’t turn off his light until after eleven, and I waited another twenty minutes to make sure everyone in the house was asleep before I grabbed the prop and headed for the backyard and set up the ladder.
    The grass was still slick and, as I climbed, my wet sneakers slipped on the rungs. I held onto the ladder with my right hand and the prop with the left, forcing myself to move slower. I’d be lucky if I not only pulled off this stunt, but didn’t kill myself in the process.
    Once I was at the right height, I struggled to put the big plastic pumpkin on my head. The eyeholes I’d cut didn’t exactly line up with my own, but it would have to do. I was starting to get cold feet—literally and figuratively.
    Taking a breath, I inched over on the rung so that I was half on and half off the ladder, steadying myself by planting my left foot against the house. And then I started tapping on the window. Quietly.
    After about thirty seconds, I tapped harder.
    Another thirty seconds went by. How long was this going to take? Had the old lady gone to the can to take a leak?
    In desperation, I banged on the window, hoping like hell I didn’t break the damn thing. All I could see was my own reflection on the glass. And then suddenly the curtains were pulled back and I heard a hair-raising scream.
    Startled, I nearly fell off the ladder.
    The screaming continued.
    Lights went on in the next room.
    It was time for me to vamoose.
    I stepped on the next rung down, and slipped, grabbed onto the ladder, and nearly fell. Wrenching the pumpkin off my head, I dropped it to the ground, and stepped down again and again, but in my haste, felt the ladder jerk to one side and I fell backward with the ladder falling on top of me.
    All the lights in the house were suddenly on, and I heard shouting from the side yard nearest the driveway. Holy shit! I hadn’t counted on this. My left foot seemed to be tangled around one of the rungs and I couldn’t shake it loose.
    The backyard light came on and Curtis ran around the side of the house. “Who’s out there—I’m calling the cops!”
    “Curtis, no!” I hollered.
    “Jeffrey! Is that you?”
    “Yeah. Help me out of here, will you?”
    Curtis stood over me, his hand s on his hips, dressed in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers. “Boy, what have you gone and done?”
    I laughed. “Just having a little fun.”
    He looked at me sternly. He was not laughing. “You done given that poor lady a heart attack.”
    “I didn’t mean to,” I said, as Curtis pulled the ladder off of me. “I just wanted to scare her—to stop her from bugging me.”
    He shook his head. “Boy, you’re in real trouble now.”
    #
    Richard closed the door to his grandmother’s bedroom and let out a long breath. Still dressed in his hospital scrubs, he considered his next move. Should he be a bastard and punish the kid for nearly scaring his grandmother to death—and if she hadn’t been such a crabby old cuss, the scare might just have ended her life—or should he let the kid off the hook?
    No doubt about it, when he’d been called home after his pager had gone off, the old lady had been practically hysterical. Since then, Curtis had plied her with sherry, but her heart rate had definitely accelerated when she’d recounted the story to Richard. Still, he was pretty sure her histrionics were more dramatic than detrimental to her health. After fifteen minutes of soothing talk, she seemed quite fine. He also hoped she now understood that baiting a lonely, unhappy kid was just as unacceptable as his retaliation. Time would tell.
    Now he had to decide what punishment to dole out to Jeff. Wasn’t that what a good parent did when a child stepped out of line? But the problem was a big part of him admired how the kid had dealt with the situation.
    For the second night in a row, Richard crossed the darkened hallway