Read Online Spinning by Michael Baron - Free Book Online Page B

for another night.
    Another night? How have I gotten so comfortable with this so quickly? This was Spring and Diane’s third night in my apartment, and somehow I had completely fallen under their influence. What had seemed like an innocent little girl on Friday night had somehow managed to make me go way out of my comfort zone . Singing? Doing funny voices? Impersonating a Manhattan apartment lee-zard? Maybe it was the head injury in the bathroom.
    I imagined Hank putting this performance on You-Tube or Billie, or Laurel. Had she really danced with me in the living room only a couple of nights ago?
    “You go to sleep, now,” Diane said, kissing Spring on the cheek. “We have a lot to do tomorrow. Good night. I love you.”
    “Night. Love you.”
    “Good night, Spring,” I said, as I turned toward the door.
    “Wait!”
    “What’d I do?”
    Spring pointed to her cheek.
    “She wants you to give her a kiss good night.”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Why?” Diane said.
    I didn’t know why. It felt weird. It was too personal. It made me uncomfortable.

    Spring continued to direct me to her cheek.
    It was like a dare or one of those things your girlfriend makes you do that you later regret.
    Looking at Diane, then the pointing girl, I realized that I couldn’t stand there all night. What’s the big deal? I leaned over and kissed her. Her face seemed so small and her skin almost supernaturally soft.
    “Night,” she said.
    “Good night,” I whispered.

Chapter 4
    Some Weird Consistency
    That Monday, I arrived at the office earlier than every other day of every job I’ve ever had. It wasn’t on purpose, I was just up, ate breakfast, saw Diane and Spring getting ready to start their search, and decided to head off to work.
    I hadn’t slept well the night before. It had nothing to do with noise or indigestion from squirt cheese. It was the kiss. After Diane had gone to bed, I was still thinking about kissing Spring’s cheek. I had never kissed a child and had never thought about kissing a child. In my mind, kissing children was a parental task. The odd thing was that I had always associated feelings of tenderness with weakness. But after kissing Spring on the cheek, I didn’t feel weak at all. It made me feel strong, as though I was helping her feel safe. With thoughts about this running through my head, I stared at the ceiling unable to sleep. It
was as though I had just had the first sip of hot chocolate on a winter morning.
    In the park, we’d run into one of those guys who would take a Polaroid for five bucks. I thought it might be nice for Diane to have a picture of the two of them, but Spring insisted that Mr. Jimmy, her new friend who sold hot dogs, join them. And then they decided that the picture was for me. The photo sat on my desk, as I sipped the day’s first cup of office coffee.
    After visiting the ducks, we needed to dry off and walked down to the zoo where Spring took a liking to the penguins. When we got home, I showed her how to watch the same penguins using the Internet. She loved zooming the camera in and out. As I watched her delight in this new toy, I got a glimpse at what parents must feel on a regular basis by showing the world to their kids.
    “Dylan? What are you doing here so early?” Mr. Mason said, stepping into my office with a file. “You’re hours ahead of the rest of the rats.”
    “Morning, Mr. Mason. I just wanted to get an early start today. I have a lot going on.”
    “Yes, you do, don’t you. He sat. “After what you did to Waverly last week? I bet his boxers are still in a wad after you stole Crystal Creek piss water. Waverly is a good man… a little pretentious at times, but a good man. And I love kicking his ass. It’ll be good to have Crystal Creek on board. That’s some serious billing. Anyway, I was just going to leave this file on your assistant’s desk. It’s a new account I want you to take a look at. See what you can come up with.” He looked at me