Three Women by March Hastings Read Free Book Online Page B

Paula felt herself getting irritated. Mike should have had the decency not to hide himself at a time like this. Paula thought he should be grown up enough by now not to cause more trouble on top of all the trouble they already had. She found a pay phone and called Charlie, Mike's best friend. No, Mike hadn't come home with him. No, he didn't know where Mike might be.
    Paula slammed down the receiver and went back into the streets, feeling ready to scream. She strode around the block, peering into stores and bars, thinking she might run into him accidentally. Oh, she wasn't about to spend the night chasing after her fool brother. Then, for no good reason, she thought of phoning Phil. Maybe it was force of habit. Phil answered the ring. His deep, long and drawn "hello" brought a catch to her throat
    "Oh, Phil," she said, knowing he no longer expected her to explain about the other night "I'm looking for Mike. Have you seen him, by any chance?"
    And miraculously, because Phil always solved her troubles, he helped her now. Yes, he had seen Mike. In fact he was up there. But he didn't want to go home. And he didn't want to speak to her, either. She could come over and try to talk to him if she wanted. But he was not in any mood for the big sister act.
    She thanked him and with relief hung up the phone. There wasn't time to think about the strangeness in Phil's voice. The peculiar coldness that made her feel she had put him behind bars. Things would have to be all right with Phil. Eventually she could straighten things out. But this just wasn't the, time. If anything, she was more confused and undecided than before.
    The bus took her over to Phil's house. He answered the door with a curt nod, hands jammed tightly into the pockets of the fatigue pants streaked with car grease.
    Mike was sprawled in the easy chair, slugging down a can of beer. She had never seen Mike drink before and she wondered whether this were the first time or if he had been doing it all along behind everyone's back. The apartment smelled of that pungent beer odor. She realized that it wasn't just the house, it was Phil. Both he and Mike had been drinking.
    "Look, Mike," she said, "we need you at home." It was a direct appeal. She spoke as one adult to another.
    Mike didn't look at her. He stared sullenly at the fishing pole propped in one corner of the room
    "Pa's going to be in bed a couple of weeks and we’ll all have to put our heads together about what has to be done."
    Still no answer. He swung one sneakered foot emphasizing the feigned indifference and outrage that consumed him. Phil had flopped down on the sofa and crossed his hands behind his head. He didn't interfere but lay still as though trying to make himself invisible.
    "Why in hell are you being so stubborn?" Paula's voice rose. "I tell you we're in trouble. You've got to come home."
    "Yeah," Mike said, his voice thick. "You need me. You all need me like a hole in the head."
    "Oh, behave, for Pete's sake," Paula clasped her hands together with impatience. "Are you going to be sensitive now because I pushed your friends out?"
    "You pushed me out." He glared at her. Patches of beard roughened his smooth skin.
    How was she going to convince him? There wasn't time to explain the facts of life to him now, not with Ma home by herself.
    "All right" Paula gave in. "So I pushed you out. It's just one of those things."
    "So it happened. So now I'm going to stay away. Phil and me both. We're not a couple of dolls that dance when you say we should."
    She looked at Phil but he didn't come to her defense.
    "So that's the way it is?" she said. "You're going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself. You won't help out."
    "If it doesn't suit your convenience, that's too damned bad."
    I'm arguing with the alcohol, she decided, not Mike. "Okay, stay here as long as you want. But remember, Pa's out of work and I don't bring home enough to keep things going. If you don't get a job after school, I don't know how we'll