Read Online Waiting For Sarah by James Heneghan - Free Book Online Page A

guys.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œYeah. But he’ll never come back. I know that, really.”
    â€œYou never can tell.”
    â€œYeah, well. Why don’t you come over to my place this weekend? We could watch
The Temple of Doom
together.”
    â€œSure. Good idea.”
    â€œIndiana Jones is the greatest. So you think you look like Harrison Ford?”
    â€œNo. Sarah Francis said I look like him.”
    Robbie grinned. “Ha! She came back. You didn’t scare her off after all. So now you know the kid’s full name, huh?”
    Getting no response, Robbie continued chattering on about Harrison Ford. Whenever he discussed movies his face shone with manic delight. His memory was prodigious, photographic almost. Now his face went into shining transfiguration mode.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark
was 1981. That was a good year for movies. Lots of people thought
Raiders
should’ve got the Academy Award for Best Pic, or even
Reds
or
The French Lieutenant’s Woman;
instead a Brit movie called
Chariots of Fire
got it. Crazy. Ask most kids about
Chariots of Fire
and they won’t know what you’re talking about — you ever heard of
Chariots of Fire?
— right, nobody has, but mention
Raiders of the Lost Ark
and they’ll know right off. I mean, everyone’s seen
Raiders
, right? What does that tell you? Also, if you want my opinion, Meryl Streep should’ve got Best Actress that year, instead of Katherine — ”
    â€œRobbie!”
    â€œSorry. Anyway, Harrison Ford made three Indiana Jones movies: after Raiders in ’81 there was
Temple of Doom
in ’84 and
The Last Crusade
in ’89. After that, he — ”
    â€œRobbie!”
    â€œKeep you shirt on. Anyway, I’m not telling you any more until you tell me more about your slave girl.”
    Mike growled, “There’s nothing to tell. She helps me, that’s all. Pain in the butt most of the time.”
    â€œSo, where does she live?”
    â€œI didn’t ask her. Hey! Would you mind staying on the sea wall and not driving through the hydrangeas? I’m getting showered with bits of twiggy garbage and dead flowers.”
    â€œI don’t know why I put up with your obnoxity, man. I push you home; I give you the benefit of my razor-sharp memory and mind, and all I get is your personality disorder problems.”
    â€œYou do it because you’re my pal, Robbie. And because you’re a good guy.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œHey, Robbie?”
    â€œWhat?”
    Mike grinned. “Is there really such a word as obnoxity?”

18 ... death and destruction
    He thanked Robbie for the bumpy flight home, dodged through scaffolding and piles of new siding sitting out on Commodore Road and let himself in to his co-op building. The reconstruction work — fixing the leaks — was, incredibly, still going on after eight or nine months. The contractors worked for only a couple of days at a time and then, like migratory birds, disappeared for long periods of time. Then they returned for a day or two or three and disappeared again. The huge blue tarps had become a familiar part of the building.
    He fought his way over the cables and construction detritus, took the elevator up to the third floor, unlocked the apartment door and wheeled into his room. Norma wouldn’t be home until late. She worked long hours for the Vancouver School District as a Human Resources Supervisor. Sometimes she didn’t get home until seven or eight, and often worked Saturdays.
    â€œ ... more than seven thousand dead ... Indian coastal state of Orissa ... fiercest cyclone in twenty-eight years ...worker at the Xerox company in Honolulu shot and killed seven of his colleagues ... ”
    The radio, left on as usual. Norma believed thieves would hear the radio and think that someone was home. It was the first thing that greeted him when he got through the door.
    â€œ ... dug up more than