Read Online Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock - Free Book Online
Authors: Elizabeth Flock
Tags: Romance
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still holding the spoon but forgetting, I guess, that it was no longer over the pot so the red sauce dripped onto the kitchen floor like blood. Splat. I watch each drop
spread into neat circles on impact. Splat.
“Can I work at White’s?” Splat.
She’s sizing me up like she just now realized I’d grown out of my jeans a month ago.
“Just until we move? Please?”
“Oh, why the hell not,” she sighs, and turns back to the bubbling blood on the stove.
I forget for a second and hug her from behind, I’m so happy. When
she stiffens up like a board I remember I shouldn’t touch her.
“Go on and get,” she says woodenly into the pot.
I run up to the Nest to find Emma to tell her my news.
“Emma? Emma!” I take the stairs two at a time. “Where you at?” “Up here,” she hollers back to me.
“Guess what I’ve got a job at White’s Drugstore and I can have penny candy anytime I want,” I say all at once since I’m out of breath from coming up the stairs so fast.
Emma’s on the bed with Mutsie, her favorite stuffed animal. “What ?”
I straighten up after letting my breath catch up with my body. “Mr.
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ELIZABETH FI. OCK
White? He offered me a job after Richard up and left me behind at the drugstore to go I-don’tknow-where.”
I fill her in on everything and, just like I figured, she got to the number one obvious question: “Can I work there, too?”
I’d like to think it was ‘cause she wanted to be with me and not here alone in the Nest while I’m gone, but I betcha it’s the penny candy. I don’t mind. Me and Emma, we’re slaves to candy.
“I bet Mr. White’d let you come on and help,” I tell her. And I honestly believe it’s so. “He even said he needs all the help he can get. That back room’s messier than a flower bed in February.”
And that’s how we came to work at White’s Drugstore nearly every day of the week after school.
FOUR
i’,-/ don’t s’pose y’all ever seen the Box?” Miss Mary looks over at Emma and me from her spot behind the cash register. She’s folding her book back up and takes off her reading glasses. Miss Mary’s been real nice to us all week, but I guess that’s nothing new. She’s always patting our hair like we’re her pets or something. The other day she even put some of the bright pink barrettes from the dime basket next to the register in Emma’s hair, one on either side of her face so she could see without strings of hair blocking the way. Miss Mary
doesn’t have kids herself so I guess we’ll do.
“What’s the Box?” Emma asks.
“Ooooeee, the Box is sumthin’ you got to see to believe,” Miss Mary says with a smile that spreads out across her wrinkled face. “It’s real scary. You have to be old enough even to ask about it.”
“Are we old enough?” I ask her, but Emma talks at the same time.
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EI. IZABTH FLOCK
“Where is it?” she asks. Not one single breathing soul’s come into the store yet and it’s already four in the afternoon. I bet it’s on account of the heat that looks like it’s melting the tar right offthe road.
“I thought ev’rybody knowed ‘bout the Box.” Miss Mary pats her lap and Emma crawls up in it like I’ve never seen her do with anyone else. “It’s over at Ike’s place and the kids go in one by onemif they brave enough to go into the room it’s in.”
“Yeah? Yeah?” We both want her to keep talking about it. I rub
my arms so the gooseflesh will settle down.
“How big is it?” Emma.
“A little bigger than a shoe box,” she says. “What’s inside it?” Me. “No one knows for sure.”
“I bet it’s boogers,” Emma says from Miss Mary’s lap. She’s leaning her back into Miss Mary’s front and her legs are dangling on either side of Miss Mary’s, which are pressed together to make a nice spot for Era.
Miss Mary shakes her head. “Whatever’s in the Box has them kids runnin’ scared for years,” she says. “I ain’t never heard of
spread into neat circles on impact. Splat.
“Can I work at White’s?” Splat.
She’s sizing me up like she just now realized I’d grown out of my jeans a month ago.
“Just until we move? Please?”
“Oh, why the hell not,” she sighs, and turns back to the bubbling blood on the stove.
I forget for a second and hug her from behind, I’m so happy. When
she stiffens up like a board I remember I shouldn’t touch her.
“Go on and get,” she says woodenly into the pot.
I run up to the Nest to find Emma to tell her my news.
“Emma? Emma!” I take the stairs two at a time. “Where you at?” “Up here,” she hollers back to me.
“Guess what I’ve got a job at White’s Drugstore and I can have penny candy anytime I want,” I say all at once since I’m out of breath from coming up the stairs so fast.
Emma’s on the bed with Mutsie, her favorite stuffed animal. “What ?”
I straighten up after letting my breath catch up with my body. “Mr.
62
ELIZABETH FI. OCK
White? He offered me a job after Richard up and left me behind at the drugstore to go I-don’tknow-where.”
I fill her in on everything and, just like I figured, she got to the number one obvious question: “Can I work there, too?”
I’d like to think it was ‘cause she wanted to be with me and not here alone in the Nest while I’m gone, but I betcha it’s the penny candy. I don’t mind. Me and Emma, we’re slaves to candy.
“I bet Mr. White’d let you come on and help,” I tell her. And I honestly believe it’s so. “He even said he needs all the help he can get. That back room’s messier than a flower bed in February.”
And that’s how we came to work at White’s Drugstore nearly every day of the week after school.
FOUR
i’,-/ don’t s’pose y’all ever seen the Box?” Miss Mary looks over at Emma and me from her spot behind the cash register. She’s folding her book back up and takes off her reading glasses. Miss Mary’s been real nice to us all week, but I guess that’s nothing new. She’s always patting our hair like we’re her pets or something. The other day she even put some of the bright pink barrettes from the dime basket next to the register in Emma’s hair, one on either side of her face so she could see without strings of hair blocking the way. Miss Mary
doesn’t have kids herself so I guess we’ll do.
“What’s the Box?” Emma asks.
“Ooooeee, the Box is sumthin’ you got to see to believe,” Miss Mary says with a smile that spreads out across her wrinkled face. “It’s real scary. You have to be old enough even to ask about it.”
“Are we old enough?” I ask her, but Emma talks at the same time.
63
EI. IZABTH FLOCK
“Where is it?” she asks. Not one single breathing soul’s come into the store yet and it’s already four in the afternoon. I bet it’s on account of the heat that looks like it’s melting the tar right offthe road.
“I thought ev’rybody knowed ‘bout the Box.” Miss Mary pats her lap and Emma crawls up in it like I’ve never seen her do with anyone else. “It’s over at Ike’s place and the kids go in one by onemif they brave enough to go into the room it’s in.”
“Yeah? Yeah?” We both want her to keep talking about it. I rub
my arms so the gooseflesh will settle down.
“How big is it?” Emma.
“A little bigger than a shoe box,” she says. “What’s inside it?” Me. “No one knows for sure.”
“I bet it’s boogers,” Emma says from Miss Mary’s lap. She’s leaning her back into Miss Mary’s front and her legs are dangling on either side of Miss Mary’s, which are pressed together to make a nice spot for Era.
Miss Mary shakes her head. “Whatever’s in the Box has them kids runnin’ scared for years,” she says. “I ain’t never heard of
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