Blues for Zoey Read Online Free PDF Page B

looking a t it for a second, he frowned a t Dave Mizra. “What’re you putting in this kid’s head?”
    â€œAn education.”
    â€œMore like insect porn.”
    Dave Mizra rolled his eyes. “Philistine.”
    â€œWrong,” said Mr. Rodolfo. “I’m Portuguese.”
    Dave Mizra scoffed again and Mr. Rodolfo stalked off to check on the machines. (Whenever he was in a bad mood, he either tidied up or tinkered with Ol’ Betty.)
    In general, Mr. Rodolfo and Dave Mizra had never really gotten along, but a few weeks earlier, things had hit a new low. The Evandale Chronicler published a sto ry about how the lead singer from Wild Blue Bounce had stopped in at Dave Mizra’s shop. I wasn’t r eally into the band, but I definitely understood it was a big deal for Veronica Heller to sample your wares.
    Dave Mizra had the article posted in the f ront window of Fire & Ice, which of course made Mr. Rodolfo dead jealous. As I’m sure my boss would say, having a minor celebrity visit your store was nothing if not good for business.
    â€œJust listen to it,” Dave Mizra told me. “This is music like nothing else. ”
    When he said that— music like nothing else —I thought of the girl I had seen.
    â€œCan I ask you something? Have you seen a girl with, like, weird dreadlocks? Hanging around your corner?”
    â€œOf course,” he said. “She’s my angel.”
    â€œYour angel?”
    â€œMy ma verick angel.” He really liked that word.
    â€œSo you’ve met her?”
    â€œNot really. But it’s like I said. ” With one hand, he waved a little flourish in the air. “She plays like an angel!”
    â€œKind of a weird instrument, though.”
    â€œThat is what makes her a maverick.”
    When Dave Mizra left, M r. Rodolfo gave up his tinkering and came to the front of the laundromat. I was tagging Dave Mizra’s shirts, and when Mr. Rodolfo saw what I was doing, he shook his head.
    According to him, Premium Service for Delicates was exclusively for women’s wear. So when he read the tags, he said the same thing he had been saying ever since that article had been published in the Chronicler .
    â€œFaggot.”
    Then he thumped back down into the basement.

15
    What It Said in the Chronicle r Article Taped
to the Inside of Dave Mizra’s Window
    * * *
    Indie Rocker Visits Local Shop
    It’s not every day an honest-to-goodness rock star stops by, but for David Ibrahim Mizra, custom jeweler and the owner of Mizra’s F ire & Ice, that day was yesterday. The rocker in question? Veronica Heller, lead vocalist with indie rock darlings Wild Blue Bounce. The band will be playing a show at Foo Bar in July.
    â€œI was just opening my shop when she walked right in,” Mizra, 45, told the Chronicler . “I recognized her from photographs, but she was much taller than I thought.”
    The Chronicler earlier reported that Heller would be in the city’s Evandale district to shoot material for a new video. In recent years, film and television crews have been drawn to the neighborhood’s gritty, inner-city atmosphere, not readily a vailable in more gentrified boroughs north of Steinway Avenue.
    â€œShe told me she had heard that there was a famous jewelry designer in this area,” Mizra said with a proud grin. “Of course she meant me.”
    When asked what the singer had purchased, Mizra was tight-lipped. “She was interested in many things, but all I will say is that perhaps you will see them soon at one of her concerts.” Mizra also hinted that H eller wasn’t the only celebrity to frequent his store. “Oh, yes,” he added, “my shop is doing very well!”
    Neither Ms. Heller nor her management were available for comment.
    * * *

16
    Nobody Gets Carded in Evandale
    It took me all day to convince Nomi to sleep over at a friend’s house. After that, I called the