Grandfather by Anthony Wade Read Free Book Online Page B

be
interested. I honestly just wanted her to leave me alone. I wasn’t
sure if Edgar needed me for anything else that night. If I knew he
didn’t, then I would’ve left to take another nap.
    “Me, you and Ashton are
the only teenagers in here,” Marley said once it was obvious that I
wasn’t going to say anything to keep the conversation going. “Then
there’s four other kids, all under ten. One of them is just a
toddler. He’s so cute.”
    I nodded.
    I could feel Marley’s eyes
watching me. She probably thought I was kind of rude, but I didn’t
care. “You don’t talk much, do you?” she finally asked.
    “Not really,” I
said.
    She didn’t say anything
else. I was thankful. There was nothing wrong with her. I just
wanted to be left alone.
    Eventually, Edgar and Mae
came back to the table to finish their sandwich and apple. They
continued talking about getting new supplies and how they were
worried about the food shortage. And, of course, Grandfather came
up, briefly.
    “Belladonna mentioned
there will be a new report soon.” Mae said.
    “Yeah,” Edgar said. “We’re
pretty sure it’s just about the tracking law. People been
questioning it, so I imagine he’s gonna make something up about it,
just to get people feelin’ better.”
    “Yeah,” Mae said. She
looked at me. “I’m assuming they told you everything?”
    “Yeah,” Edgar answered
before I could swallow a bite of my apple to answer for myself.
“He’s havin’ a bit of a hard time believing it all.”
    “Well, I do imagine it’s
hard to grasp at first,” Mae said, smiling at me. “But you’ll be
able to understand soon enough.”
    I said nothing. I’m just
glad she didn’t try to force the idea on me like Edgar and Robert
had been doing.
    She kept on. “Have you had
time to explore the place?” she asked, sounding as if the
underground facility was some sublime paradise.
    “I’ve not had time,” was
my simple answer.
    “Basically just got here,”
Edgar said. “Might be a good idea to check everything out, though,”
he continued, finishing off his sandwich. He picked up the apple,
tossed it a few inches in the air, and caught it.
    “ With all these tunnels,
it’s like an adventure,” Mae said, snickering. “I think everybody
needs an adventure every now and then. Makes life
exciting!”
    I didn’t
respond.
    “ Maybe Marley here can give
you a bit of a tour,” Edgar said.
    Marley smiled but didn’t
look at me. She probably knew I wouldn’t like the idea. I was
pretty sure I got the point across that I wanted to be left
alone.
    “That’s a great idea!” Mae
said. “There are only two others your age down here. You might as
well get to know them.” I remembered the Ashton guy Marley had
mentioned.
    “I guess,” I
said.
    Edgar looked at me and
frowned. “You guess?” he said.
    “Don’t sound so down about
it,” Mae said. “You probably just need to get some rest before the
tour. We’ll give him a few days.”
    “Should be good by then,”
Edgar said.
    Um, no. I wasn’t going to
be good by then. I wasn’t going to ever be good.
    “And, like I said, you
never know what there is to discover down here,” Mae said.
“Certainly could be fun.”
    After another thirty
minutes sitting at the table, awkwardly, just listening to the
boring conversation about Edgar’s and Mae’s high hopes to expose
Grandfather soon, I left to be alone in my room. When I got to my
bed, I found the clothes Belladonna and Edgar had mentioned. There
were a few pairs of jeans close in my size and several shirts and
sweaters. I still don’t know who brought them, but I was thankful.
Who knew people living underground would have decent
clothing.
    I basically stayed locked
up in my room for the next few days. I’d usually wake up pretty
late because I never got the chance to do so at the orphanage. That
meant I didn’t make it to breakfast. But I did make it to lunch and
dinner. I tried to sit by myself, but that didn’t