Pain & Wastings by Carrie Mac Read Free Book Online Page B

had to tell the social workers and police, but Harvir is the only other real person I’ve ever told.
    â€œJust that you lived down here!” Kelly’s shouting now. “You’re being such a freak. What is your problem?”
    He didn’t tell her the rest? He didn’t tell her more? “Is that all he said?”
    â€œYou know what?” Kelly holds up her hands and starts backing away. “Forget the movie. You’re on your own.”
    â€œWait!” I shake my head, trying to dislodge the headache that’s digging in deeper. “Kelly, I’m sorry! Wait up!” I don’t want her to go. I don’t want to be left alone down here. Even though I’m taller and stronger than she is, even though I’m the guy and I should be doing the protecting, I don’t want to let her go. I don’t want to be alone. She lets me catch up to her and we keep walking, neither of us saying anything.
    We get smuggled into the theater by her friend, who is a janitor for the shopping complex. When it’s over and we leave, the sunshine of the afternoon is like a slap in the face. Kelly marches back toward Main and Hastings. I decide it’s time for a peace offering.
    â€œPain and Wastings,” I tell her as we approachthe corner. “That’s what we call it down here.” Before I can correct the
we
to
they,
Kelly pipes up.
    â€œLook.” She roots in her enormous purse for a cigarette. “I’m going to score. I understand if you don’t want to. I know you think I’m just some junkie skank. But there it is. That’s what I’m going to do with the rest of my afternoon, okay?” She pulls out three packs, but they’re all empty. Barely missing a beat, she sidles up to a group of men who are walking hurriedly and speaking Italian, clearly tourists who got dangerously lost trying to get from Chinatown to the harbor.
    They are all young and they are all quite taken by Kelly. Four cigarettes are whipped out. She slips the first one between her lips and lets the man light it for her. Then she takes the other three and tucks them into one of the empty cigarette packs.
    â€œ
Gracias
,” she purrs. They laugh and start on their way again. She walks with them. They don’t seem to mind. My back goes up. I want to pull her away, but this is Kelly. You don’t mess with her or she might knock you over with herpurse and stomp your eye out with one of her high heels.
    She’s not your girlfriend, I tell myself as one of the men puts his arm around her waist, and the balding one lays claim to her shoulders. She looks tiny between them.
    â€œSee you later, Ethan.” She offers a little wave over her shoulder, leaving me utterly alone at the corner of Pain and Wastings.
    â€œWhere you headed, little guy?” I know this man. He is called Clifford and has red hair and is big, just like the big red dog in the picturebooks. This is before the Ovaltine, but the same day, only minutes earlier. I am clumping along with my snow boots on the wrong feet, my bare chest cold. It is fall and sunny, but colder than I expected.
    â€œI’m getting milk,” I tell him.
    â€œWhere’s your mom?” He leans down. He reaches into his pocket and offers me a caramel, sticky and squished. I know it is safe to take candy from him because Mommy always lets me. I take it and turn my attention to peeling off the wrapper. That takes too long, and I am too hungry and this is the first thing in who knowshow long that I’ve been offered to eat. I shove the whole thing in my mouth and take off at a run when I see the hand signal says it’s safe to cross. I want to get away from him before he asks me where my mother is again. “Wait up, Ethan!” Clifford calls after me. But he has a limp and can’t walk fast, so I’m across the street before he starts after me, and then the light changes and he has to wait.
    I manage to get