Read Online Sixteen and Dying by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page B

acted impossible all afternoon. He felt it was his fault.”
    “He had nothing to do with it. I cut my hand, that’s all.” Her eyes met her father’s over Marti’s head. When it had happened, all she could think about was Morgan’s touching her blood and somehow absorbing the HIV into himself. And when she had to face the doctor in Platte City, when she had to tell him to take extra precautions before treating her, the reality of her situation almost devastated her. “We should leave,” she’d told her father in thecar coming back to the ranch. “We should go home before I infect somebody.”
    “Nonsense,” her father had said. “If we leave, it’ll be because you truly want to go. You’re not a threat to anybody. Do you want to leave?”
    Anne felt she was a threat. She also felt dishonest because she wasn’t telling people the truth about herself. Did her friends have a right to know? A right to choose whether or not to be around her? She felt like a coward because she couldn’t bring herself to tell them. Or to see the horror on their faces once they knew.
    “Oya!
Listen to me, Anne,” Marti was saying. “I want to know if we can go into Platte City for Pioneer Days on Friday. I have the whole day off, and I want to go have some fun.”
    “I thought you were going with Skip.”
    Marti glanced around, then leaned closer. “He’ll meet me in the afternoon, after the rodeo. You and I can see the sights until Skip’s free.”
    “I don’t know …” She remembered when Morgan had suggested she come to the celebration with him. After the way she’d been acting, he would probably be keeping his distance from her.
    “You can’t tell me no,” Marti said, with a quick smile.
    Anne shook her finger at Marti, who giggled and called over her shoulder, “The van for Platte City leaves from the main lodge Friday morning, and you’d better be in it with me.”
    On Friday, a whole crowd of guests rode into the small city. A large banner hung over the main street, proclaiming Pioneer Days, and booths and standsselling food, arts and crafts items, and western memorabilia lined the thoroughfare. People jostled along the sidewalk, and set up chairs down the side of the street for the parade scheduled at high noon.
    “Isn’t this fun?” Marti asked. She and Anne strolled down the sidewalk, licking ice-cream cones.
    “
Si
,” Anne replied in Spanish.
“Estoy muy
—” she struggled to remember the Spanish word for ‘fun’ and ended up saying, “—fun!”
    Marti laughed gaily. “What an accent! Come on, let’s grab a spot to watch the parade.”
    They sat on a curb, and when the parade started, Anne discovered they were in a perfect position to see everything. Marching bands, convertibles filled with pretty girls, clowns, and riders astride different breeds of horses passed directly in front of them. Anne identified groups of palominos, pintos, paso finos, quarter horses, and purebred Arabians, ridden by men, women, even children dressed in western and Mexican clothing.
    “Look, there’s Skip,” Marti said. She waved to a clown dressed in baggy pants, an oversized shirt, and a flaming red wig. His face was painted white, except for exaggerated drawn-on red lips.
    “How can you tell?” Anne teased. Skip stepped from the parade line and handed them both balloons. “You look adorable,” Anne told him.
    “Thanks. Are you both coming to the rodeo? I’ll be working the ring, and Morgan’s going to ride,” he said.
    “Clowns work in rodeos?” Anne asked.
    “Important work. We distract the wild bulls when a rider gets thrown.”
    “How? Do the bulls fall down laughing?” Anne kidded, but the image of Morgan’s being thrown from the back of a bucking horse flashed through her mind.
    “Very funny,” Skip said as Marti giggled.
    “Don’t you ride the broncos or bulls?” Anne asked.
    “Do I look crazy? Not this boy. I participate in the roping events and the barrel races.” He glanced at