Read Online Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson - Free Book Online Page B

didn’t like you, you were in trouble. His hair flopped all over his face and his shirt flapped as he drove his bike towards me.
    “If you touch me again, I’m telling my mom!” I shouted.
    “Mommy!” Frank said, making another run at me.
    “Waaa!” the other guys said, pretending to cry. “Waaaa! She wants her mommy.”
    “Go on and cry!” Frank said. “Wussy baby.”
    “Wus-sy ba-by, wus-sy ba-by!” the other two sang.
    “I’m not!” I said. “You take that back or I’ll … I’ll—”
    “Moooommy! Mommy!” Frank said, kicking my arm as he rode by. “Come on, wussy baby, cry.”
    I stood up, blood leaking through my shirt. My lips trembled, and I felt the first hot tears sliding down myface. Frank pointed at me and laughed. The others joined in. He was going to tell everybody at school that I was a wussy baby, and that was what they were going to call me forever. Last week, he’d chased Erica around, and when he and his friends caught her, they pulled her dress up. She was wearing pink panties but they told everyone she was wearing diapers. They still called her Pissy-missy.
    Rage scorched my face. I balled my fists up, held them in front of me and rammed into Frank. His bike tipped over and he yelped. I landed on top of him. I sank my teeth into the closest part of him, which happened to be his butt. He howled and tried to punch me off, but I dug my teeth in harder, until I could taste his blood through his shorts. I wrapped my arms around his leg and held on with all my might.
    He was really screeching now, scrambling to get out from under the bike and away from me. As he dragged me with him, my legs scraped against the chain and the pedal. His friends had jumped off their bikes by now and were kicking any part of me they could get to, sometimes hitting Frank.
    Frank punched me in the face. It hurt so bad that my eyes swam in their sockets. I fell back, pulling him with me. We rolled together on the ground, and I made my hands into claws and raked his arms.
    Someone was shouting at us to stop fighting, and I saw Erica’s brother J.J. above us as he kicked Frank’s friends, who hopped on their bikes and rode away. Frank rolled away from me and sprinted after them. I thought of chasing him, but I was too slow so I stomped on his bike. The spokes bent and the chain flew off.J.J. watched me, grinning. When I got tired and paused, he said, “You done?”
    “Oh my God,” Mom said when J.J. carried me into our house. I cried so hard that I couldn’t tell her what had happened.
    J.J. said, “If you think she looks bad, you should see the other kids.”
    Mom gave him a dark dirty look and took me from him, lowering me slowly to the ground and giving me a gentle hug.
    While she was cleaning my cuts, Mick dropped by. He drove us to Emergency. Frank and his mother were already in the waiting room. She pursed her lips and stood. Mom tucked me behind her and glared.
    “My Frankie needs shots because of your daughter,” she said.
    “Oh?” Mom said.
    “Look at what she did.” She pulled Frank to her, spun him around and pushed his shorts down.
    “Mom!” Frank said, pulling his shorts back up.
    “If Frankie hadn’t been torturing my daughter, he wouldn’t have got bit, would he? I’d say he got what he deserved.”
    “I could sue you.”
    “Try it. I’ll see your juvenile delinquent in foster care faster than you can say court date.”
    “Ladies, ladies, ladies,” an orderly said, jogging into the waiting room to stand between them. The nurse hastily called out Frank’s name and ushered them out.
    “Wipe that smirk off your face,” Mom said to Uncle Mick, who immediately sucked his smile into a pucker.
    She paced the waiting room while he cheerfully gave the duty nurse our address and phone number. I sat by the TV, wiggling a loose tooth with my tongue.
    While Mom was in the bathroom and Mick was flirting with the nurse, Frank and his mother came back out. She came right up to me and