Banana Split Read Online Free PDF

wiping his hand on the side of his shorts. He wore red flip-flops—what they called rubber slippahs on the island. “Um, I’m looking for Sadie Hoff-miller.”
     
    “Why?”
     
    “I need to talk to her.”
     
    “About what?”
     
    “Um, is she there?”
     
    “I’m Sadie,” she said, wondering why he hadn’t assumed as much.
     
    “You are?” he asked in disbelief. “You’re so old.”
     
    It took work to keep her tone even. “What can I help you with?” Sadie said.
     
    “Oh, um—” He looked over his shoulder. Was he hiding from someone? Sadie could relate to that fear. “Can I come in? I won’t take anything.”
     
    Take anything? That right there should have been a bright red flag, waving back and forth in front of her face, and yet, despite all the reasons not to, she told him to hang on a minute. She closed the door, undid the latch, and opened the door all the way to allow him entry.
     
    “Come on in,” she said, standing to the side. He was only too eager to enter and looked around the room once she shut the door behind him. Was he scoping out the place to see if there was anything valuable? There wasn’t, really, but just having someone else in the house made her uncomfortable. It was her only sanctuary, and she’d allowed it to be breached. Only Konnie had ever been inside her condo, and that was because she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
     
    “Have a seat if you’d like,” Sadie said, waving the boy toward the futon against the wall and across from the TV.
     
    He sat on the very edge of the futon and tried to bounce, but the cushion was pretty solid. Sadie sat in the rattan chair to the side of the futon and looked at him expectantly, trying to summon the persona of a welcoming hostess. She couldn’t make it work, however, and so she simply spoke her mind. “You already know who I am. What’s your name?”
     
    “Charlie,” he said.
     
    “Well, nice to meet you, Charlie. What can I help you with?”
     
    He twisted so he could get something out of the right front pocket of his shorts. His clothes were not new, and he smelled like a little boy who’d just come in from a humid afternoon. Sadie hadn’t smelled that in a long time and felt a flash of nostalgia for the days when she’d had to bribe Shawn to take a shower. This little boy, Charlie, wasn’t all that different from what Shawn had been a decade ago. Charlie was smaller and not as dark-skinned, but the similarities tugged at her heart, which made her even more uncomfortable.
     
    Charlie removed a folded piece of paper from his pocket and opened it up, smoothing it out on his lap. It was the grayish newsprint paper her students had used back when she taught school—cheap, soft, and thin. He cleared his throat very official-like. “I read about you in the paper,” he said, glancing up at her quickly.
     
    “I was in the paper?” Sadie asked, her heart instantly racing.
     
    “Yes,” the boy said, looking at her eagerly. “Because you knew my mom.”
     
    Sadie’s attention snapped back to him. “Your mom?” she said, having a hard time processing the idea.
     
    “Noelani Pouhu,” the boy said.
     
    “I’m sorry,” Sadie said, shaking her head. “I don’t know anyone by that name.” And yet something niggled that she’d heard the name before.
     
    “The newspaper said you—you were with her,” he said, his voice quiet, almost reverent. “Up by Anahola.”
     
    Sadie’s mouth went dry.
     
    Noelani.
     
    She had heard the name before, and the realization of who he was talking about brought back the stark memory of pushing away a water-bloated body. Instantly her sweat glands reacted, and she focused on taking deep breaths.
     
    “She was a mother?” Sadie’s head tingled and her throat thickened. “I didn’t know that.” She’d purposely avoided learning about the woman for this very reason. It was easier to think of her as simply a body, although Sadie was ashamed to admit that