Read Online Kids These Days by Drew Perry - Free Book Online

I’ll be out again.”
    â€œWhat is this?” I said. “Are you alright? Are we—”
    â€œI’m fine,” he said. “We’re fine. Everybody’s fine. This is a setback. I’ll be out tomorrow.” He sounded tired. I felt bad for him, but I also wanted to ask him how he’d managed to achieve this.
    â€œIs there anybody I should call?” I said.
    â€œJust go over to the fish camp tomorrow like we planned. Go on with your day like it was any other day.”
    â€œAny other day I’d be riding with you.” It was a stupid thing to say, a kid thing, but I couldn’t help it.
    â€œYou’ll be fine. Go get a lay of the land. I’ll be out by the afternoon, and we’ll be back to normal.”
    â€œThat’s all?”
    â€œI just wanted to tell you this wasn’t me. And I’ll tell you the whole thing, too,” he said, waving a hand at the ceiling. “But, you know, anything you say, and all that.”
    â€œIt can’t be that bad if they’re letting you talk to me.”
    â€œThat’s what I thought. But I still get to spend the night for free.” I could hear the lights humming. He said, “Carolyn’s OK?”
    â€œShe’s with Alice. She seems alright.”
    â€œYou’re lying.”
    â€œA little. But she is with Alice.”
    â€œIt’s good you guys are here,” he said. “I’m glad you’re down here.”
    â€œAlice is good in a crisis,” I said.
    â€œWell, we found ourselves one of those.”
    The door opened. The policeman put his head through. “Time, gentlemen,” he said, and shut the door again.
    â€œThey only give us five minutes,” Mid told me.
    â€œYou’re OK,” I said. “You’re sure?”
    He looked down at the table. “It could be worse. The guard back there told me they go out for barbecue for dinner, so that’s what they’re bringing me tonight.” The cop knocked on the door again, but didn’t come in.
    I said, “Maybe if you just apologize, this’ll all clear up.”
    â€œI tried that. No dice.”
    I looked behind him, at another door. “How is it back there?”
    â€œI’m the only one here,” he said. “So far, anyway. So I haven’t had to make a shiv out of my toothbrush.”
    â€œFunny,” I said.
    â€œI’m here all night. Tip your bailiffs.”
    â€œMid, what
happened
?”
    â€œI’ll tell you tomorrow,” he said. “When it’s all over. I will.”
    The cop came in, and there was a moment where I felt like I might be supposed to hug Mid, to pull him close and say something that would get him through the night, but by the time I got any of that worked out, the cop had turned him around, walked him through the door in the back of the room, and he was gone. A minute or two later the cop came back for me, took me out the way I’d come, gave me my change and belt back. He locked the door behind me. Carolyn and Alice were in the same place I’d left them.
    â€œThey’re bringing him barbecue,” I said.
    â€œHe likes barbecue,” Carolyn said. She blinked, squeezed her eyes shut. “This is so wrong,” she said. She stood up. “I need some air.”
    Alice asked me to finish up whatever needed finishing. I told her I would. I held the door for them, let them out into the afternoon. I went to the desk to ask the woman if we needed to sign back out, anything like that, but she wasn’t there. It was silent in the room. No radio, no TV, nothing through the walls. I turned around, and Carolyn and Alice had gone past where I could see them, and for a moment I had this unshakeable feeling that I might be the only person left on the planet. Like Mid and Carolyn and Alice and the woman behind the counter and the baby and Varden and all of them had winked out of existence, and I was who was left.