Read Online Matchbox Girls by Chrysoula Tzavelas - Free Book Online Page B

and realized part of her hoped they would. She wanted somebody associated with all this this -ness to yell at.
    Marley scolded herself and found Branwyn’s extra can of pepper spray. The anti-anxiety medication made her reckless sometimes, especially when she upped her dosage like she had just now. She forced herself to consider the idea of taking her car to a different park. After a careful, thirty-second examination of her choices, she concluded that if she wanted to be stealthy, leaving the car where it was, taking the back exit from her building, and walking to the local park was the best option.
    The back door of her apartment complex led to the laundry room and the dumpsters. It was always smelly, but today the whiff of smoke in the air overwhelmed the other odors. A firefighting helicopter flew by, tilted like a swollen mosquito, and she tracked its progress toward the mountainside until it faded into the haze.
    As they walked, Marley said to the twins, “This afternoon’s game is: run away from anybody over the age of ten who gets close enough to touch you. Except me. Don't run away from me.”
    Lissa said, “Something bad is happening, right? All these bad guys.” She sounded more thoughtful than scared.
    Marley hesitated and then said, “Yes. But it’s too hot to hide under the bed.”
    “Hah!” said Kari to Lissa. “I told you the fire was part of it.”
    “What?” said Marley. “No, no. That’s just nature. Everything gets so dry.” She tried to remember what it had been like to be so young that the forces of nature had been anthropomorphized to her. She had vague memories of believing that earthquakes came from the sea’s jealousy of the coast, but that was it.
    “But you’re not supposed to hide under the bed if there’s a fire in your house,” said Kari seriously.
    “That’s... that’s true. I was just referring to the summer, though.”
    “It was sticky back at your house.”
    “Mmm,” Marley said, because what else could you say to that? Looking down at Lissa, she asked, “Are you scared, Liss?”
    Lissa was quiet for a moment, and then shrugged. “I will throw rocks at them.”
    Kari giggled. “Yeah! And bugs! And dog poop!” She looked shocked and pleased by her own daring.
    Marley, who had been present for a park lecture from Zachariah on why dog poop was yucky and shouldn’t even be poked with a stick, sighed. “I’d rather you just ran away.”
    Kari seemed to ignore her entirely, while Lissa just shrugged. They walked along in silence for a few moments, until they came to the edge of the park. As far as Marley could tell, the place was utterly empty. It wasn’t entirely a surprise given the wildfires and heat, but it was a relief.
    “There we go,” she said. “Nobody to throw things at. Please, please come to me first if you think that would be a good idea. Now go play.”
    She followed them into the playground. While Kari wouldn’t let go of her harnessed fairy doll for any reason, she otherwise played as she always had. Lissa, in contrast, was quiet and uninterested. But after ten minutes of Marley’s enticement and encouragement, she relaxed and began to show signs of enjoying herself.
    It was nice, until Marley looked up from Lissa’s smile and realized a familiar figure had appeared in the park.
    It was neither Lawyer Jeremy nor Tall, Dark and Nevermind, but the teenage girl with the dogs. She was throwing a Frisbee that two of the dogs chased, while the third lazed around in the grass, ears pricked toward the playground activity. The girl seemed to be paying no attention to anything else around her, but Marley was not convinced.
    She looked around the park to see who else had shown up. There was still nobody near the playground, although a ball game seemed to be assembling on the distant diamond. On the other side of the park, a pair of women strolled along the jogging path.
    The girl’s back was to Marley, making it impossible for Marley to catch her eye.