Read Online 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - Free Book Online
Authors: Maureen Johnson
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“I meant drink .”
“Oh.”
“Listen,” he said, moving closer, “as you’ve effectively paid for the entire show—and cheers for that—I might as well tell you this. I’m taking it to the Fringe Festival, in Edinburgh. You know the Fringe?”
“Not really,” Ginny said.
“It’s pretty much the biggest alternative theater festival in the world,” he said. “Lots of celebrities and famous shows have come out of it. Took me forever to get the school to pay to send us up there, but I did it.”
She nodded.
“So,” he said, “I take it you’ll be coming to the show again?”
She nodded again.
77
“I’ve got to pack everything up after the show tomorrow and move it out for the night,” he said. “Maybe you’d like to join in.”
“I’m not sure what to do with the rest of the tickets. . . .”
Keith smiled confidently.
“Now that you’ve paid for them, they’ll be easy to unload.
There aren’t a lot of people around since it’s June, but the international office will take anything free. And the foreign students are usually still here, wandering around.”
He looked down at her hands. She was clutching at her empty glass.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you to the tube.”
They left the smoke of the bar and stepped back into the fog.
Keith walked her along a different route, one that she would never have been able to find on her own, to the glowing red circle with the bar cutting through it that read underground.
“So, you’ll be back tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
She fed the ticket eater and passed through the clacking gate, descending down into the white-tiled tube station. When she got to the platform, she saw that there was a pineapple sitting on the rails of the tracks. A whole pineapple in perfect condition. Ginny stood on the very edge of the platform and looked down at it.
It was hard to figure out how a pineapple could end up in a situation like that.
She felt the whoosh of wind that she now knew accompanied the approach of the train. Any second now it would come blasting through the tunnel and cross right over this spot.
78
“If the pineapple makes it,” she said to herself, “he likes me.”
The white nose of the train appeared. She stepped away from the edge, let the train go, and waited for it to pass away.
She looked down. The pineapple wasn’t broken or whole. It was simply gone.
79
The Not-so-Mysterious
Benefactor
Discovery: It was possible to take apart a fake palm tree and fit it in a car. In fact, it was possible to take apart a whole set and get it in a car. A little car. A little, white, very dirty Volkswagen.
This is how they were “unloading” Starbucks: The Musical .
“You may be asking yourself, ‘Why is Keith taking these?’ ”
Keith said as he shoved the fronds down into the trunk. “ ‘Why, he doesn’t even use these in the show.’ ”
“I kind of wondered,” Ginny said. (She’d wondered a lot as she’d been dragging one of them down the basement hallway, actually. They were heavy.)
“Well, I did for a while,” Keith said, looking at the underside of the car and how it was sinking low to the ground under the weight. “I wrote them out. But I have to make sure no one nicks them since the school paid for them. I mean, fake palm trees.
Come on. These beat orange traffic cones any day of the week.
These things are a prize.”
81
He looked down at the pile of costumes that was still on the sidewalk.
“You get in and I’ll pack this stuff around you,” he said.
Ginny was duly stuffed in (on the wrong side), and Keith got in on her right. The car didn’t look so good from the outside, but apparently its insides were in perfect working order. As soon as Keith hit the gas, it sprang to life and rocketed to the corner of the street. It squealed slightly as he took the corner and plunged into the traffic on the main road, barely missing being knocked out of the way by a
“Oh.”
“Listen,” he said, moving closer, “as you’ve effectively paid for the entire show—and cheers for that—I might as well tell you this. I’m taking it to the Fringe Festival, in Edinburgh. You know the Fringe?”
“Not really,” Ginny said.
“It’s pretty much the biggest alternative theater festival in the world,” he said. “Lots of celebrities and famous shows have come out of it. Took me forever to get the school to pay to send us up there, but I did it.”
She nodded.
“So,” he said, “I take it you’ll be coming to the show again?”
She nodded again.
77
“I’ve got to pack everything up after the show tomorrow and move it out for the night,” he said. “Maybe you’d like to join in.”
“I’m not sure what to do with the rest of the tickets. . . .”
Keith smiled confidently.
“Now that you’ve paid for them, they’ll be easy to unload.
There aren’t a lot of people around since it’s June, but the international office will take anything free. And the foreign students are usually still here, wandering around.”
He looked down at her hands. She was clutching at her empty glass.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you to the tube.”
They left the smoke of the bar and stepped back into the fog.
Keith walked her along a different route, one that she would never have been able to find on her own, to the glowing red circle with the bar cutting through it that read underground.
“So, you’ll be back tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
She fed the ticket eater and passed through the clacking gate, descending down into the white-tiled tube station. When she got to the platform, she saw that there was a pineapple sitting on the rails of the tracks. A whole pineapple in perfect condition. Ginny stood on the very edge of the platform and looked down at it.
It was hard to figure out how a pineapple could end up in a situation like that.
She felt the whoosh of wind that she now knew accompanied the approach of the train. Any second now it would come blasting through the tunnel and cross right over this spot.
78
“If the pineapple makes it,” she said to herself, “he likes me.”
The white nose of the train appeared. She stepped away from the edge, let the train go, and waited for it to pass away.
She looked down. The pineapple wasn’t broken or whole. It was simply gone.
79
The Not-so-Mysterious
Benefactor
Discovery: It was possible to take apart a fake palm tree and fit it in a car. In fact, it was possible to take apart a whole set and get it in a car. A little car. A little, white, very dirty Volkswagen.
This is how they were “unloading” Starbucks: The Musical .
“You may be asking yourself, ‘Why is Keith taking these?’ ”
Keith said as he shoved the fronds down into the trunk. “ ‘Why, he doesn’t even use these in the show.’ ”
“I kind of wondered,” Ginny said. (She’d wondered a lot as she’d been dragging one of them down the basement hallway, actually. They were heavy.)
“Well, I did for a while,” Keith said, looking at the underside of the car and how it was sinking low to the ground under the weight. “I wrote them out. But I have to make sure no one nicks them since the school paid for them. I mean, fake palm trees.
Come on. These beat orange traffic cones any day of the week.
These things are a prize.”
81
He looked down at the pile of costumes that was still on the sidewalk.
“You get in and I’ll pack this stuff around you,” he said.
Ginny was duly stuffed in (on the wrong side), and Keith got in on her right. The car didn’t look so good from the outside, but apparently its insides were in perfect working order. As soon as Keith hit the gas, it sprang to life and rocketed to the corner of the street. It squealed slightly as he took the corner and plunged into the traffic on the main road, barely missing being knocked out of the way by a
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