out?
âFrankieâs will provide lunch for every single person in your entire high schoolâ¦on Friday the 13th.â
âThatâs the day of the boycott,â Julia said.
âWhat better way to show everybody that Frankieâs food is not only
fast
food, but
fine
food.â
âThat is brilliant,â my father said admiringly.
âNo it isnât!â Julia snapped. âThat is so slimy!â
âOh, itâs both,â my father said. âBrilliant and slimy. Is this your idea?â he asked Mr. Evans.
âIâm afraid I canât take all the credit. Of course there is one catch,â Mr. Evans continued.
âThereâs always a catch,â my mother said. âGo on.â
âIn response to our generous offer, we are asking that your son send an e-mail explaining what is going to happen. He must also ask everybody to send out e-mails the same way they did about the boycott.â
âSo let me get this straight,â I said. âIf I just send out an e-mail, youâll give lunch to fifteen hundred kids at my school?â
âThat is correct.â
âAnd if I donât?â
âThen Iâm afraid we canât provide the lunch,â Mr. Evans said. âWe canât look like weâre trying to undercut your efforts to boycott us. That would be unethical.â
âBut you are trying to undercut and you are being unethical!â Julia said. âYouâre trying to bribe us!â
âBribe is such an awful word,â Mr. Evans said. âIâm just trying to help you form an opinion.â
âLook,â I said, âeven if I wanted to, what makes you think I could stop the boycott?â
âYeah, itâs like he lit a match, but now itâs a gigantic forest fire. Do you really think hecan stop it just by sending another e-mail?â Julia asked.
âMaybe. Maybe not. All we want is for you to try. And I guess I should also mention one other fact. As we speak there are representatives of Frankieâs meeting with your principal, vice-principal and student council to put this same offer of a free lunch before them.â
âSo part of the reason for
this
meeting was to get us here instead of at the school,â my father said.
Mr. Evans didnât answer.
âSo, do we have a deal?â Mr. Evans asked.
âUnbelievable,â I muttered under my breath.
âI donât understand,â Mr. Evans said.
âThe whole thing is unbelievable. First you try to threaten me. Then you try to bribe me. And now you do the two together, trying to bribe me and threatening me if I donât take the bribe.â
âI donât like to think of it in those terms,â he said.
âThatâs because youâre a lawyer,â I said.
âSo are you turning down the offer?â Mr. Evans asked.
I looked at my parents for advice.
âSorry, Ian,â my mother said, âbut this is up to you. You started things and you have to decide how to finish them.â
âWell?â Mr. Evans asked.
âWell, Iâm not going to answerâ¦not yetâ¦I have to consider what to do.â
âTake all the time you want,â Mr. Evans said. âThe deal is on the table until close of business in two days.â
Chapter Eleven
âIan!â
I heard my name being called out but didnât stop or turn around. If I ignored whoever it was, maybe theyâd go away.
Iâd spent the whole morning with people coming up to me and thanking me for the free Frankieâs lunch that was coming because of me. Or they were telling me they were âwith meâ in supporting the boycott and they were upset Frankieâs was trying to bribe us with aburger. The student council had done a pretty good job of letting everybody in the whole school know about the free lunch offer.
I kept walking, eyes forward, down the hall, putting kids and classrooms between me
Learning to Kill: Stories