Read Online Night Kites by M. E. Kerr - Free Book Online

whiff of her perfume told you that, one glimpse of her long legs moving to the beat, a rhinestone bracelet flashing at one ankle.
    We were all really pooped after, and in the taxi on the way back to Dad’s, I asked Jack what was in that tea, anyway. He was sitting there singing Elvis Presley’s old torcher “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” Springsteen’s first encore. Jack was doing sort of a slow, dopey version of it, keeping time with his hands.
    “Have some and see.” He offered me the flask.
    “Erick?” Dill said. “It isn’t tea. I was there this morning when Jack made it.”
    “I know it isn’t tea, but what’s in it? Is it strong?”
    “Is it strong!” Nicki said, but she’d had only a taste. None of us were drinkers.
    “It’s got tequila, rum, vodka, gin, Triple Sec, and lemon juice in it,” Dill said.
    “And Coca-Cola,” Jack said. “You just sip a little of it. Have some!”
    I passed. We all did but Jack. Dad had put the kibosh on that part of the celebration. Even though he’d said he was going to stay out late so we could have the apartment to ourselves for a while, I didn’t dare get wrecked anywhere around him … I didn’t know how to figure Dad’s mood. He didn’t seem at all teed off at the fact the girls’ luggage was at Pete’s. All he wanted was our promise not to hang out after the concert. Pick up a pizza on the corner of Eighty-second and Second, he’d said. I’ll see you tomorrow, or if you’re up very late, later.
    We stopped for the pizza. (We’d left the meat loaf in Pete’s refrigerator.)
    While Jack and I were paying for the pizza at the counter, I said, “When did my old man show up?” We hadn’t had a chance to talk since that morning.
    “Nicki and I took a walk, because as soon as you and Dill left, Nicki started talking about going back to Seaville right away. She always wants to go when she gets anyplace. I got her calmed down, but he was there when we got back from the walk, around three.”
    “Sorry, old buddy.”
    “Don’t be. It wouldn’t have been the right time anyway. She wanted to see Springsteen so damn much, then she pulls this ‘let’s go’ shit! I can’t figure her out. She says she hates to stay till the end of anything.”
    “She sounds bananas to me,” I said, and I noticed Jack lurching.
    “This girl’s got me on a roller coaster. I’m flying!”
    “You’re flying, all right. Why are you drinking?”
    “No Coach Paul lectures, please.”
    “Coach Paul would have your ass if he could see you now.”
    “I feel great!” Jack said.
    “Do you know what I’m saying, Jack? You’re not really irresistible when you drink. You sing off-key, too.”
    “Do you know what I’m saying? I’ll probably marry this girl!”
    “Now you’re going to marry her.” I didn’t want to hear about it. “What’d you all talk about for an hour, while you were waiting for Dill and me?”
    “College. S-A-T.s. Your dad said I really ought to go to college, and he got Nicki saying the same thing. I kept thinking at the concert, maybe I ought to go.”
    “Then go!” I said.
    “It’s a crazy idea, just when I meet someone I don’t ever want to leave. What college could I get in?”
    “Shit, Jack!”
    “Don’t say shit Jack! What college could I get in?”
    “What college can I get in? When we get back to Seaville, we’ll talk about it. You’re not in control, buddy.”
    “I love her, Erick. She says we have to be careful today, because it’s the fifth and five is a mystic number that means trouble.”
    “Don’t have any more, okay? Dad’s going to break my butt if you’re drunk when he gets back.”
    Dad’s apartment consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom, a study, and a kitchen off the living room. I figured Dad could sleep on the couch in his study, Jack on the living-room couch, me on some pillows from the couch on the living-room floor.
    It was Dill’s idea to change for bed, then eat the pizza in the living room, watching