Read Online Zipped by Laura McNeal - Free Book Online Page B

know what I know.” He wagged his eyebrows. “The excitable member was in a state.”
    Mick said nothing more. The truth was, he was feeling pretty good himself. He’d talked to two college girls and found out that besides being really, really pretty they were funny and nice. In fact, he’d realized as they were talking that even though they didn’t look at all alike, Myra reminded him of Lisa Doyle, except older and chestier and brown-haired instead of red. But she really did remind him of Lisa. It was something about how friendly her eyes seemed.
    As Mick was clipping the leash on Foolish at the edge of the park, Reece said, “Okay, you definitely get the five bucks.” He considered it. “But not the twenty. I mean, you came close, but you didn’t get a phone number.” They walked another block and he said, “I mean, giving them our e-mails isn’t the same as them giving us their phone numbers.” A half block farther he said, “Tell you what, I’ll give you ten. Ten okay?”
    â€œTen’s good,” Mick said.
    â€œBut you’ll have to wait till I have it.”
    They crossed to the shady side of the street, and when they got to Walnut and Sixth, where he would go left toward home or right toward Reece’s, Mick went right. “Okay if Foolish comes?” he said.
    â€œSure,” Reece said. “Mr. and Mrs. Reece have no issues with canines.” They walked half a block, and Reece said, “If you want to call Nora and let her know, you can use my phone.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Mick said. “Nora’s not there.” This felt to Mick as much truth as lie. Nora was there, of course, but it wasn’t the Nora he knew. It was somebody else, somebody who sneaked off with some other guy on a Saturday while his father was working and then came home and pretended she’d been at the mall shopping.
    On Reece’s street, while they were waiting for Foolish to pee in the bushes, Reece said, “So who’s Alexander Selkirk anyway?”
    The question buzzed through Mick’s body like a faint electric shock. “What?”
    â€œWho’s Alexander Selkirk? The guy who said he knew Myra Vidal.”
    â€œOh. Him. Nobody. I just made him up.”
    â€œYou made him up?” Reece tipped his head away, nodding. “He made him up.” He kept nodding. “You are such a stud, Mickster. I mean it. You should have corporate sponsorship. You should have a shoe contract.” He gave Mick a mock shoulder punch. “Okay. For making up Alexander Selkirk, I’m gonna go to twelve-fifty. Is that fair?”
    â€œMore than fair,” Mick said. “Instead of waiting forever to not get ten dollars, I’ll be waiting forever to not get twelve-fifty.”
    â€œExactly.”
    When they turned up the walkway to Reece’s house, he said, “Sure you don’t want to call and leave Nora a message?”
    â€œYeah,” Mick said. “I’m sure.”
    Automatically his hand felt inside his jacket. The pocket was zipped and within it he could feel the outlines of the green floppy disk.

CHAPTER SIX
    The Wooden Lady’s Walnut Tidbits
    Late Saturday night Lisa Doyle was at Janice Bledsoe’s apartment, sitting at the kitchen table eating Chef Boyardee pizza and talking about boys, or more particularly the boys on the Village Greens crew to which Janice had been assigned. All of them were sevens or eights, according to Janice, except the group leader, whose name was Ned. Ned was a nine. “He was checking me out,” Janice said. “Nothing blatant, but there was some definite visual perusal.”
    Footsteps, and then Mrs. Bledsoe was at the kitchen door with a long folded fax in her hand. She was wearing her glasses low on her nose. She lay down the fax, broke off a piece of pizza, and said, “So who did you say was checking you out, sweetness?”
    Janice