Little Children by Tom Perrotta Read Free Book Online Page A

when the wheels reconnected with the ground. If not, the board slipped away from the rider’s feet and plunged to the pavement, usually landing upside down or on its side, and making either a soft clattering noise or a decisive smack, depending upon whether the rider came down on top of it, in which case a fairly interesting fall could result.
    A smooth landing was preferable to a painful tumble, of course, but was that it? Even when done properly, the maneuver seemed unassuming to a fault, barely worth the trouble. And yet, rider after rider kept gliding past him like figures in a dream, crouching and hopping, standing or falling, performing their pointless task with the stoic patience of early adolescence. I don’t know why I’m doing this , each boy seemed to say, but I’ll keep doing it until I’m old enough to do something else.
    As he had so often in recent days, Todd closed his eyes and let out a low moan, mentally reenacting the kiss by the swing set. He still couldn’t believe that it had really happened, right out in public like that, after only a brief conversation, with all those women and children looking on (Aaron had been particularly curious about what he’d seen, and had received Todd’s explanation that it was just pretend, a game grown-ups sometimes played, with justifiable skepticism). But Sarah hadn’t just kissed him. She had pressed her body against his with astonishing frankness, murmuring these sweet little noises of approval and encouragement right into his mouth. Todd had been this close to grabbing her ass when he remembered where they were. She looked dazed and disappointed when he pulled away, and he’d had to stop himself from inviting her back to his house for more right then and there, though what “more” might have meant with a pair of three-year-olds in tow, he couldn’t have begun to say.
    A week had passed, and Todd hadn’t seen or heard from her since. He and Aaron had returned to the Rayburn School playground the following morning, but no one was there, not even the three bitchy women who supposedly called him “Prom King.” They were back a few days after that, but played dumb when Todd asked about Sarah, as if they didn’t know the first thing about her, not even her last name or where she lived.
    “I’m surprised you have to ask,” said the bossy one with the toothpick legs. “It looked like you knew each other pretty well.”
    Sarah hadn’t shown up at the Town Pool, either, though Todd remembered telling her that he and Aaron could be found there most afternoons. So she was obviously in no big hurry to reconnect with him and explore phase two of the playground fantasy, whatever that might be. It was probably a good thing, Todd decided. It wasn’t like he wanted to have an affair or anything. He just wanted to see her again, maybe talk a little about what had happened, find out if she felt as unsettled by their encounter as he did.
    Because he couldn’t get that damn kiss out of his mind. The whole thing was just so uncanny. Todd had been fantasizing about something like that for months, every time he found himself engaged in conversation with an attractive young mother— Dear Penthouse Forum, I’m a 31-year-old stay-at-home dad, and you’ll never believe what just happened to me at the playground —and now it had really happened. It was like suddenly being a teenager again, returning to a time when sex wasn’t a routine or predictable part of your life, but something mysterious and transforming that could pop up out of nowhere, sometimes when you weren’t even looking, though usually you were. Walk into a party and Bang! There it was. The mall, McDonald’s, even church! Some girl smiles at you, and it’s a whole different day.
    Losing that sense of omnipresent possibility was one of the trade-offs of married life that Todd struggled with on a daily basis. Sure, he got to sleep with a great woman every night. He could kiss her whenever he wanted (well,