Twenty Grand by Rebecca Curtis Read Free Book Online Page B

me, and thought it might not be too late. We had been sisters ever since we were born and it was in her nature to help out anyone she could, so that might have been the case. But now the tall redheaded homeless man had his hand on her arm and he was pointing toward a dirt road in the pines.
    I like your sister, the sly, dumb-looking one said.
    I nodded.
    There really wasn’t time, my sister said.
    We could have driven faster, I said.
    I drove pretty fast, she said.
    In circles, I said.
    At least she drove, the redheaded one said.
    My sister kept driving. That’s it then, I said, trying to be casually funny, I give up on the interstate. I was planning to jump out of the car. My sister pushed a button. The button was on the dash. After she pushed it, I tried to open my door.
    Door doesn’t work, my sister said.
    It worked before, I said.
    Temperamental, she said.
    You pushed a button, I said.
    She shrugged. She was very beautiful. She had long dark hair and was pale and thin. I’m only doing this, she said reasonably, because I want to live.
    What?
    She looked straight ahead.
    They threatened you? I said. I meant them, the people in the house that she’d helped me escape.
    Well no, she said. They didn’t. But I just knew they’d be happy if I did it.
    Oh, I said.
    All those letters, she said. Wah wah wah. You should have shut up and waited it out.
    I know, I said. All those years, I’d never realized how annoying my letters were. As I said, my sister had been in the house for a long time herself, but she’d waited it out and then scrambled around and led a miserable life, and now she had a pretty good position in the state, and I had thought she could help, even though by writing the letters I knew I was reminding anyone who happened to read the letters that once we lived together in the house.
    Sorry about the letters, I said.
    She looked out the window. She watched the firs fall past and the clustered black dots in the triangular valleys below. You always have a problem, she said. You need to buck up. I’m not even your sister.
    You’re not? I said.
    No, she said.
    We came to the top of the hill. The road was a dirt path. She parked next to a pine. I guessed no one had alerted the police after all, about our escape. My sister got out with the redhead and told the sly, dumb-looking one that they were going to find a spot.
    He nodded.
    Stay with her, my sister said. Then she walked with the redhead toward the woods.
    The dumb-looking one slid closer. What are you thinking? he said.
    I was thinking about my moves. I had three, but none of them was very good. Plus, the knife was on his lap. His blond hair was damp and his lips were pursed. He wasn’t touching the knife but he was looking at me, and when he looked at me I knew that I was slow and he was fast. While I was thinking, I heard a shot in the woods. When I heard the shot I felt a gladness in my heart, because I don’t like homeless men. Then I felt sad because I guessed he’d wanted to live. I realized my sister would kill us all because she wanted to live. I looked at the dumb one. He was studying me.
    I love you, I said.
    You do? he said.
    Yes, I said. Very much.
    You love me? he said.
    From the moment I saw you, I said.
    If I find out you’re lying, he said, I’ll kill you myself.
    I’m not, I said. I convinced him to start the car. I pointed out that we’d both heard a shot. I said that it was time to leave. He started the car and backed it up.
    Will you marry me? he said.
    I saw my sister’s shape in the dark, walking toward the car.
    Yes, I said.
    Have kids? he said.
    Oh yes, I said.
    My sister’s shape was running toward the car.
    Kiss my lips, he said, and let me put my tongue in your mouth?
    Oh God, I said.
    You don’t love me, he said.
    I do, I said. I just hate to kiss.
    Oh, he said. Then he tore out of there fast and put his damp hand on mine and we headed toward the