Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe Read Free Book Online Page B

slumps down on the grass.
    I drop the bat in the dust. "Why do you
do
things like that?" I yell at Raymond before I can stop myself. "Howie never hurt anybody." I can feel my throat close up.
Oh, God. What am I doing?
    Raymond stares at me, his face closed. The other kids are silent. I think of all the ways that Raymond could react, and I press my thumbs into my fists to keep from shaking. But I'm not sorry for what I said. Howie deserves to have somebody stick up for him.
    ***
    I'm in my bedroom changing out of my school clothes when Mom calls me back to the kitchen.
    "Honey, I need you to go over to McKenzie's for some milk," she says. She pulls a dollar out of her wallet and sets it on the table.
    It is only two blocks from our house, past the brick office building, then across the asphalt that spreads out from the store. People park wherever they want to, and I have to keep my eyes open so I don't get run over.
    Mr. McKenzie sells groceries and a lot more—beads, buckskin and cradleboards, hardware and sporting goods. He has a museum of old photos, arrowheads, and baskets in the back. And the store is also the post office, so the back wall is covered with little glass-doored metal boxes, one for each family. One of the first things I learned at Warm Springs was how to twirl the knob to click open the combination lock—right 10, left 4, right 8—to get our mail.
    It is pretty quiet now, before the after-work rush. Just a few cars parked up next to the store, including a big station wagon with California plates. Two older men read their mail on the bench by the front door, leaning back in the sun that warms the concrete block wall. I push open the "In" door and then hold it for a mom wrestling a big bag of groceries in one arm and a toddler in the other. The lady says thanks, and the little boy gives me a one-tooth grin.
    I'm thinking about how cute that kid is when I almost walk right into the rump of a big white woman in culottes. She looms over the single checkout counter, herding two scrawny kids. She holds two bottles of pop in one hand, money in the other, waiting to pay. I sidestep at the last second as a paunchy man comes up with a big bag of potato chips.
    "Here, Marge—get this, too," he says, and pushes the bag into her arms. She juggles the stuff and scowls at him.
    They're not from here. The California car must belong to them.
    There's a crowd around the cash register, and then I see why. One red pomegranate sits on the counter, and a little girl who can barely see over the top is counting out pennies one by one. Jewel stands behind her, one hand on her shoulder.
    Before Jewel sees me, I duck behind the magazine rack and go to the dairy case. When I come back up with the milk, nobody has moved.
    The clerk, a high school kid, leans against the cash register, watching the little girl. He has rung up the purchase, but it doesn't look like she has enough money.
    The lady with the pop gives an irritated sigh. "What's taking so long?" one of her kids whines.
    "Can't you speed this up?" the lady asks the clerk. He just shrugs.
    "Look," the man says, "we're in a hurry." Like that should make a difference.
    The little girl pulls the last coin out of the handkerchief she has clutched in her hand. She puts it on the counter and looks up at the clerk.
    "Not enough," he says. "You need five more cents."
    "Good Lord!" says the man. He turns to his wife. "Marge, give the papoose a nickel so we can get out of here."
    The little girl's eyes widen. I can just feel the quick thumping of her heart. Ignoring my own quickening pulse, I push past the fat man up to the counter. "Here." I shove the dollar at the clerk. "This will cover it."
    He puts the milk and the change in a bag and hands it to me.
    "
Hey, we were here first!
" the man bellows, but I whirl around and get myself right out the door.
    I'm several quick paces across the parking lot when the door jingles open behind me. "Wait up!"
    I turn. Jewel stands in