Read Online A Long Walk Up the Waterslide by Don Winslow - Free Book Online

town is going to recanize me.”
    “ Recognize. Say it and I’ll get you a magazine.”
    There was a slight hesitation in her stroke.
    “What magazine?” she asked.
    “ McCall’s? ”
    “ Cosmo.”
    “If I can find one.”
    She leaned forward to check out a possible flaw in the paint job, then slowly and distinctly said, “I think there are three trees.”
    “You’ve been jerking my chain.”
    “I’m the one on the chain,” she said. “When’s Karen coming home?”
    “When she’s done shopping, I guess.”
    “Karen’s my bud.”
    That’s for sure, Neal thought. The two women were practically joined at the hip. They stayed up half the night watching junk TV and eating ice cream and corn chips. He would lie in bed listening to them giggling and whispering.
    Polly put her other foot on the table.
    “Time for the TV break,” she said.
    “No, it isn’t.”
    “Close.”
    Neal straightened up in his chair. “Park the car and go to the party with Barbara.”
    “Pawk de caw an go tuh de pawty wit Bawburuh.”
    Neal whimpered.
    “Once again,” she said, “yaw making me say stuff I am nevuh going tuh say adenny troil! What caw? What pawty? Bawburuh who? We nevuh went to no pawties; we just went tuh bed! He’d stick his ting in me; he’d take his ting out—dat was de pawty!”
    “His ting? ” Neal asked.
    She looked up from her toenails.
    “You know,” she said. “His ting.”
    “You mean his thing?”
    “What do you tink I mean?” she asked, frowning.
    Neal stood up and walked over to the counter.
    “I don’t know,” he said. “His organ? His male member? His penis?”
    She sniffed. “I don’t say dose words.”
    “Well, you’d better learn.”
    “Be nice.”
    “It’s not my job to be nice,” Neal said.
    “And a good ting, too.…”
    “It’s my job to get you ready for the trial.”
    She leaned way over, blew on her toenails, then said, “I’m telling Karen dose words what you said.”
    Neal smiled. “What words?”
    “You know, like ting.”
    “You mean penis?”
    “I mean ting.”
    “Penis.”
    “Ting!”
    “Penis!”
    “Ting!” Polly yelled as she stood up. “Ting! Ting! Ting!”
    “Penis! Penis! Penis!” Neal yelled as Karen walked through the door with an armful of groceries.
    “Diction lesson?” she asked.
    “He wants me to talk dirty,” Polly accused.
    “Don’t they always?” Karen asked. She set the grocery bags on the counter.
    Neal took a deep breath and then said, slowly and distinctly, “When you give your deposition, as you will have to do … you cannot talk about his ting … or even his thing.…”
    “Why not?” Polly asked.
    Karen put her hand on Neal’s arm and said, “Because they won’t take you seriously. Neither would a jury. They’d laugh, and that’s not the reaction you’re looking for, is it?”
    “No,” Polly admitted.
    Karen asked, “Then can you say, ‘He forced himself on me’? or even, ‘He forced himself into me’?”
    Polly thought about this for a few seconds.
    “I can say himself, ” she decided.
    Karen turned to Neal. “Professor?”
    “That’s fine. Very dignified,” Neal answered. “Thank you.”
    “Happy to be of service,” Karen said. “Isn’t it time for the TV break?”
    Polly gave Neal a ‘See?’ look and stalked into the living room.
    Karen put her arms around Neal and kissed him on the cheek.
    “I love you,” she said.
    “But?” Neal asked.
    “But you could try telling her why you want her to do something,” Karen answered. “She’s not stupid.”
    Neal made a noncommittal murmur.
    “She didn’t go to Columbia, and she’s not pursuing a graduate degree in English literature,” Karen said, “but that doesn’t mean you should treat her like the slowest puppy in obedience school.”
    “Are you saying I’m a snob?”
    “Of course you are,” she answered. “But let me ask you something: You were a street kid, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where did you get your blue-blazer