Read Online Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen by Glen Huser - Free Book Online Page A

father, he can’t keep his gaze steady for longer than one and a half nanoseconds.
    â€œAnd there’s more,” I say. “When you come back, we’ll put the house up for sale. And the car, too.”
    â€œAuntie!”
    â€œNow, now.” I pat his hand. “I know I’m not going to be able to live there again. And Lord knows I’ll neverdrive again. You can be my agent in both deals. A good commission.” I raise my glass again. “And, of course, it will all —”
    â€œThank you.” He captures my hand with one of his own restless ones and, for once, he does lock eyes with me. He looks like my brother Raymond the Christmas morning he unwrapped a ham radio set our parents had bought him.
    Yes, Byron, enjoy your little stretch of paradise. I plan to find my own. The same ocean, but half a world away with the lights of Seattle like the flashing gold of the Rhine. And, inside the opera house, the music swelling like a great wave, beautiful beyond bearing. No wonder Ludwig, the young king of Bavaria, was driven mad by it.
    â€œAre you okay, Auntie?” He has blown out the candle and inhaled the cupcake.
    â€œOh, yes.” I laugh.
    As he leaves, Byron keeps looking back over his shoulder, as if he can’t believe the fortune the last hour has brought him. He offered to take me back up to my room but I told him I’d be fine and I wanted, after all, another cup of coffee.
    â€œAren’t you afraid it’ll keep you awake?” he fretted.
    â€œByron, my dear...” I patted his hand again. “You don’t think they actually have caffeine in anything they brew here!”
    When he’s gone, I work the walker out to the patio. The June evening is warm and no mosquitoes yet. It will be possible to smoke in absolute peace. I wonder what she’s doing, the Tamara girl. Scrapping with her foster family? No — probably not. Not with the prospect of the trip to Vancouver and her modeling course hanging in the balance.
    Eddie, the caretaker, spots me from a hall window and comes out to join me. He lights up a cigarette of his own.
    â€œI have it for you,” he says in a low, conspiratorial voice. “A bottle of brandy. A carton of cigarillos. How can you smoke those...?” He shakes his head and laughs sadly. “They should have killed you years ago.”
    â€œPerhaps they contain the elixir of life. The magic smoke of an immortal dragon.”
    â€œYou sure that’s all you been smoking?” Eddie makes a little twirling gesture by his ear.
    â€œYou’re right, Eddie,” I chuckle. “I am a bit crazy tonight. And I’m glad you’ve brought a carton. I’m going on a little trip and I like to be well supplied.”
    â€œA trip!” He looks at me with surprise. “Hey, look at you! A tour!”
    â€œYes, Eddie, a tour.” I finish my smoke and he helps me up to my room, coming back in a couple of minutes with a small shopping bag.
    â€œUsual spot?” I nod and give him his money after he stows the bag’s contents in the back of the bureau drawer, third one down. Tonight a more generous tip than usual.
    â€œHey!” he smiles. “You have a wonderful trip. Mexico? Hawaii?”
    â€œI’m still deciding,” I say. “Pour us both a little drink of brandy. I feel like celebrating tonight.”
    Eddie retrieves the bottle from the drawer and pours shots into two plastic glasses.
    â€œBon voyage!” he says.

13
    When I take the Wrinkle Queen printed-out copies of the letters, she eyeballs them and makes a few corrections.
    â€œI used spell check,” I tell her.
    â€œNo good with apostrophes or homophones,” she says. “I’d think by the time you’re in grade nine you’d know the difference between p-a-s-s-e-d and p-a-s-t. If you’re going to be a model and move in the higher circles of society, you’re going to have to learn to