A Penny's Worth Read Online Free PDF Page A

friend.
    Arriving at work, she began her usual
routine. Nine year old John Boris came in for his allergy medicine at nine
sharp, Beth’s mother Joan marched in at eleven to administer her daughter’s
daily insulin shot. Gregory Simms usually came in on Thursday mornings
complaining of a headache to avoid his weekly math quiz.
    Just as Gregory was leaving, Mr Adams
popped his head into Penny’s office and asked, “How are we today Penny?” Penny’s
eyes were drawn to the top of his head. Not only did he have oily hair, he also
had a bad case of dandruff.
    “I hope you’ll be coming to see the band
perform this evening,” he said cheerfully.
    She shuffled her feet. “Well, I don’t
know if I can, Mr Adams. Something came up.”
    “Came up?” His face fell in
disappointment. “I was expecting the whole faculty to attend, very important
for the morale of the school you know.”
    “Yes I do know… Believe me, if I can, I
will. My mom, I think, may need me to take her somewhere.”
    “I see,” Mr Adams replied, but she could
tell he didn’t see at all. “I know you’ll try your very best to attend.”
    “Of course,” she called after him, as she
thought what a big fat lie that was.
    Anway, she thought, listening to his
receding footsteps in the echoing corridor, I’m worried about my own morale, buddy.
Because right now, it’s pretty much non-existent.

Chapter 8
    As usual, she folded under pressure. Against her better
judgment, she went to see the school band perform their annual Back to School
reception. It was always boring, quite loud, and she cringed as she watched the
parents fight each other for the front seats.
    “I’ve been waiting over an hour for these
seats,” Jennifer Suptahs booming voice carried clear across the auditorium like
a half-time score announcement. “You have one hell of a nerve thinking you can
just slip into them when I just turned around to put down my bag.”
    Jennifer’s immediate nemesis, a
frizzy-haired mother who had lodged herself into the seat via a strategically
positioned elbow block, retorted, “I’ve been waiting here too, you know. Just
because I went to the bathroom doesn’t mean you can take over the entire front
row with your entourage.”
    Penny shook her head slowly as the heated
argument bubbled away unchecked. She knew the situation would escalate if the
two combatants weren’t placated. Mr Adams ran over. As she watched his attempt
to find a compromise—in other words, something that would please neither party—she
realized she’d been watching this same scenario year after year.
    The band was still warming up. She
inwardly cringed as she listened to the grating off-key music. She decided
she’d rather be plunged into icy water than endure the rasping clarinets
competing with the discor dant scraping of half-tuned
violins. Looking at her watch, she sighed and thought: I only have an hour and
a half and then I can get out of here.
    It was then that she saw him. He was
standing by the wall across the auditorium. The man was breathtaking to look
at. His wide shoulders tapered into a small waist and he wore a pair of jeans
and a light blue v neck sweater. He was slightly bow legged; for some reason
Penny always had an attraction to this slight affliction. His hair was rather
long, longer than the current trend, which made him all the more attractive. He
looked to be around forty to forty-five. Penny thought he was the most handsome
man she had ever laid eyes on.
    She was so entranced with him, that she
hadn’t realized he had been staring back at her. Oh damn, she thought frantically,
he knows I’m gawking at him.
    Quickly turning away, she pretended to
look for something in her pocketbook.
     
    Finally, the assembly was over. Walking quickly toward
the front doors, she turned around and found that the man she’d been gawking at
was right behind her. He was even more beautiful than from afar. Penny actually
felt her knees go weak. With the