Read Online The Life of Lol by Andrew Birch - Free Book Online

them.  There’s a kiosk across the way”
    Lol ran off.  The seller didn’t know Lol as well as her normal guy did, who knew they were for Bernice.  At first, this guy didn’t want to sell a kid cigarettes, but she said they were for Groucho, and seeing as she had the five dollars, he relented, and sold her a pack of Marlboros, Bernice’s brand.  She ran back to where Groucho was waiting, and putting trust in him that she didn’t feel, handed the pack over.  She watched with dismay as he opened it, took out a cigarette and lit it.
    “Man, that tastes good”, he said closing his eyes, “first proper smoke in years.”
    “Hey”, she shouted, reaching to grab the pack, “they were for Bernice.  Now I’ll get my ass whipped.”
    “You probably deserve it for trusting old coots like me”, he smiled, winking at her, “but anyway, steady on, I promised you ten dollars and, no matter what they say about old Harlan, he always delivers on his word.  Here, take the pack.  Go into the schoolyard and sell the rest of them.  Try the bad kids near the bike racks.  Sell them a dollar apiece”.
    Lol ran through the gate, careful not to catch the teacher’s eye.  The kids were on recess, and were playing.  Lol couldn’t believe it.  They couldn’t wait to give her their money.  IN under a minute she had eighteen dollars.  She saved the last cigarette for Groucho.  Lol had never seen so much money in all her life.  She ran back to where Groucho sat at the edge of the kerb, reading a newspaper that he’d found in the gutter.
    “Damn government”, he said pointing to the paper, “Governor needs a firecracker up his ass if you ask me.  You know about politics, kid?” he asked.
    Lol shook her head.  She handed over the ten dollars and the saved cigarette.  He blinked in surprise.
    “Naw”, he said, save the ten, cos you’ll have to replace the ones you bought.  Give me the eight and the smoke and we’ll call it quits. 
    After Lol and Groucho had found another cigarette kiosk to replace the pack with, they walked to the end of the old quarter, round the back of benny’s night club.  Occasionally, Lol had thought she was rich when she’d found a quarter down there.  Now with five dollars and a full pack of cigarettes in her pocket, she felt beyond wealthy.  The possibilities were endless.  She counted up the possibilities.  Two elementary schools close by, pack of cigarettes each, she could clear ten dollars a day, fifty a week.  Fifty bucks a week, that was probably as much as Bernice was on!  Lol decided to stick with Groucho.  He didn’t seem to mind, though he rambled on about things she didn’t understand,
    “Treason!”, he shouted, “Reagan should've have gone to jail for that.  North too.  Corrupt.  That’s why they sent the spy planes to watch me, they knew what I was saying”
    Lol just nodded at various intervals.  They spent some of their money on a hot dog which they shared.  When they reached the back of benny’s, a group of homeless were standing around listening to a Black guy saying something.  Lol shrank back a little.  This wasn’t her scene, she didn’t know any of these people.  Groucho saw her fear and suddenly grabbed the girl’s hand,
    “C’mon, numbnuts”, he said, “come meet the rest of the afflicted, watch out for the feds though.”
    Lol didn’t know what  ‘Fed’ meant, but she followed him into the alley.  The woman was known as Dreary, she was just old and miserable.  She hated kids, but all the same she produced a furry old hard boiled sweet which she pressed into Lol’s hand.  Not being afraid of such things, Lol popped it into her mouth and sucked on it till the fur came off and her tongue found the sweet underneath.  Then there was Horace.  Horace was bald, and had glasses that didn’t fit.  And fat.  Lots of fat, hidden under a filthy old brown Macintosh.    He just talked crap, about cheese, and peas, and ostriches.