Shell Shocked by Eric Walters Read Free Book Online Page B

go?”
    â€œIt’s not like I asked her. When I heard her unlock the front door I jumped into bed so she wouldn’t know that I knew she’d been out.”
    â€œShe probably went out for a walk.”
    â€œIn the middle of the night?” I asked.
    â€œPeople who can’t get to sleep do things like that. Besides, what other reason could there be?”
    I shrugged. I couldn’t think of one.
    â€œUnless you think she was out being a Nazi spy. Do you think our mother is an enemy agent, Georgie?” He flicked me in the back with the dishcloth.
    â€œBut then why did she tell us she was sleeping?” I asked. “Why would she lie to us?”
    â€œI don’t know. She probably didn’t want us to worry about her sleep problems.”
    â€œMaybe. But I don’t like being lied to,” I said. “And Mom doesn’t like it either. Which reminds me, you’re not going to tell her about your new friends, are you?”
    â€œWhat’s to tell?”
    â€œOh, I don’t know, maybe that they’re way older than you?”
    â€œThey’re not that much older. I’m almost sixteen … almost seventeen, according to my school records and everything that everybody here knows.”
    â€œYou’re closer to fifteen than you are to sixteen, and I think Mom knows your real age.”
    â€œYeah, but it’s like what we were talking about. I don’t have anything in common with kids my real age.”
    â€œAnd what exactly do you have in common with those three?” I asked. “Besides the fact that they’re older, they work and you go to school, they live in dormitories and you live with your mommy.”
    â€œWell, you don’t have to spend time with them,” Jack said. “I like Daphne and she likes me.”
    â€œShe likes the seventeen-year-old you.”
    â€œAnd that’s the one she’s going to get.”
    â€œWhat if she finds out you’re not seventeen? What if Mom finds out you’re going out with somebody who’s two years older than you?”
    â€œOnly two people know those things—me and you. And I’m not telling anybody, and neither are you.”
    â€œI might keep it all a secret.”
    â€œMight?’ Jack asked.
    â€œIt depends on how a certain person treats his little brother.”
    â€œIf you’re not careful, the doctor is going to be treating you for a broken arm.”
    â€œAnd unless you’re going to break my face too, then Mom is going to find out who broke my arm and why he did it. So maybe you’re the one who needs to be careful.”
    Jack tried to stare me down. I didn’t look away.
    â€œBesides, it’s not me you have to worry about,” I said. “In case you haven’t noticed, they all work in the same plant.”
    â€œAlong with ten thousand other people. They’re not on the same line, or in the same building, or even on the same shift,” Jack said. “And can you imagine our mother sharing a coffee break with any of those girls?”
    That thought made me smile.
    â€œSo, you keep your mouth closed and I’ll keep my fist open. Agreed?”
    We shook hands on it.
    â€œUnder the B … fifteen!” the announcer called out.
    I looked at my card. No fifteen. I hadn’t won all night, but that wasn’t surprising considering how many people were playing. There had to be close to two hundred people, and some of them were playing three or four bingo cards at the same time.
    The few males in the room were either really young—kids from our school—or really old. The women were mostly about my mother’s age, but there were younger ones too, like Daphne, and some who were old enough to be grandmothers or maybe great-grandmothers.
    I was sitting by myself, and Juliette and Daphne were sitting with Jack on the far side of the room. Juliette had started to give me a hard time again, kidding me