Read Online The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde - Free Book Online Page B

nothing odd, he looked back.
    “What?”
    “Nothing.”
    Silence. He didn’t ask. And she appreciated the fact that he didn’t ask, so she told him.
    “I just don’t like that girl.”
    “Isn’t that the girl from Gardening?”
    “Yeah.”
    “The one that dates Leander.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why don’t you like her?”
    “Who is she with now, Todd?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know that guy.”
    “Is it Leander?”
    “No.”
    “Does that answer your question?”
    He sipped his beer and chewed on that awhile in silence.
    Meanwhile the girl and her date managed to destroy whatever silence may have been left to enjoy. The girl hit the jukebox, punched in three songs, and racked up a game of pool. The first song came up, blaring country and western.
    Annie’s jaw set more tightly. She lit another cigarette. Thought about leaving. But first she had to talk to Todd. She had to settle this thing with him once and for all. Because even if you don’t openly encourage a guy, it still happens. It’s still building up. It’s all in what he’s thinking, what he expects. Allows as a possibility.
    But now she couldn’t think, what with the bad music and the clack of pool balls and the voice of that girl grating at her.
    Todd said, “Maybe they have an open thing.”
    “He adores her. He never looks at anybody but her.”
    “Okay. But even so. I mean, maybe she’s an okay person. I mean, she could be nice. Just not be very…you know…monogamous. I mean, nice people can do things like that.”
    Annie massaged her forehead, took a long draw off her cigarette, blowing the smoke out through her nose; she tried to erect an inner barrier against the noise and disturbance.
    She said, “So many people will steal from work if it’s only a pen.”
    Todd sat with that for a respectable length of time, then said, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me.”
    “A few days ago I was walking by the Roman Pool. Nobody else around. And one of the guys who’s restoring the floor in there, he calls me in. Wants to give me a handful of the original Hearst gold floor tiles. I think he’s trying to make me. ‘Here,’ he says. ‘Nobody’ll know. No big deal.’”
    “What’d you do?”
    “I didn’t take them.” Pause. “Want to know why not?”
    “Yes. I do. Very much. I would really like to know anything about you that the other guys on the hill don’t know.”
    She turned her head and looked directly at him for the first time since he’d come in. Right into his eyes. It seemed to alarm him slightly.
    “Because if you take something you’re a thief.” She nursed the silence a moment. Downed the balance of her drink and silently signaled for another. “Sounds simple, but you’d be amazed how many people don’t get it. They steal but they call themselves honest. They cheat on their spouses and lovers but they think they’re good people. They lie but they’d never call themselves liars. Well, let me tell you something, Todd….” She pointed toward him with her right hand, with her lit cigarette. He leaned away slightly. She looked into the mirror of his eyes and saw herself going too far. “You are what you do. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. What we do defines us. However we behave, conduct our lives…that’s real. The rest is just a story for publication.”
    She dropped her hand again. They sipped their drinks for a moment in silence.
    Well, not silence. There was that damn music, that clacking of pool balls. The chatter and laughter of that girl she couldn’t stand.
    “Sorry,” Todd said. “Didn’t mean to hit a nerve.”
    “No, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault. Look, I’m gonna get out of here.”
    She tossed back the rest of her drink and slid, wobbly, to her feet. Made her way for the door fast and straight, as if to plow right through that other girl, causing the girl to jump out of the way.
    Cool air hit her face as she strode out onto the dark sidewalk.
    “Annie.”