Desperate Times Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t
believe you. We’re in some serious shit. I took some money and went
shopping and bought some stuff. Not much, but I didn’t know what
else to do.”
     
    “That’s okay, honey, that’s why I left it
there for you. You’re driving? Where are you headed? Are you headed
back home? We’ll be back in an hour. I picked you up a bunch of
stuff. I hope I got the right kinds. I know I got enough. The guy
at the cash register looked at me like I was nuts.”
     
    “I’m just driving, okay? I don’t know where
I’m going. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just… I’m just driving.
You scared me this morning, Jimmy. I’ve never seen you mad like
that. You were out of control. Now you want me to run away? I don’t
know if I can do that. I’m just trying to figure things out.”
     
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I
don’t know. It’s just been a bad morning. The last thing I expected
to see was that creep sitting at our table this morning. I guess I
lost it. You know I’m not like that. You know that, right?”
     
    “I know.”
     
    “Okay, so you’ll meet me back at the trailer?
Bill went to pick up some lunch. Do you want us to pick something
up for you on our way back?”
     
    No, I’m fine,” Paula said with a hitch in her
voice, sniffling into the telephone.
     
    “Are you coming home?” Jimmy asked, his eyes
closed and teeth clenched.
     
    “I don’t know. I’m still thinking about
everything. If I’m not there when you get back, call me. Okay? I
promise to have it figured out by then. I’m sorry, Jimmy. I just
need a little time. I’ve got to go now. Call me?”
     
    “Come home, Paula. Okay? Everything is going
to be all right. You’ll see. I love you.”
     
    “I love you, too,” she said quietly. I’ve got
to go. Bye, Jimmy.”
     
    “Paula?”
     
    Jimmy waited for a second, but he knew that
the line had gone dead. He closed his phone and dropped it into his
pocket. He ran his hands down his face, feeling as if he’d been
kicked. From across the lot he could see Bill making his way back
to the truck, bag in hand. Jimmy turned away, feeling his eyes blur
as one hot tear fell from the bridge of his nose. He was a jumble
of emotions—angry, sad, confused, and frightened. He fought to
regain his composure, squeezing his eyes shut and taking deep
breaths. He looked up to the sky and then down to the bank sign
which now read twelve noon on the button and a balmy, eighty-four
degrees. When his eyes dropped further, he noticed that there was a
commotion brewing in the bank parking lot.
     
    “What the hell?” Jimmy said out loud.
     
    There were angry shouts coming from the front
of the bank and it seemed that all of the car horns in the long
line at the drive-through had begun to roar in unison. A police
siren wailed in the distance. Jimmy watched as the blinds were
pulled over the large windows from inside the bank.
     
    “What’s going on?” asked Bill, slightly
winded, having jogged the last hundred feet of the parking lot.
     
    “I’m not sure,” said Jimmy. “I think there
might be a run on the bank.”
     
    The horns died away as people began to climb
from their gridlocked vehicles. Jimmy watched as they raced to the
front of the darkened bank. Jimmy grimaced as he watched a young
man dressed in a business suit beat at one of the tall windows with
a tire iron.
     
    “Get in the truck, Bill.”
     
    Jimmy’s cell phone began to ring. He quickly
removed it from his pocket, nearly dropping it as he folded it
open.
     
    “Paula?” he shouted into the phone, still
watching the scene unfold at the bank.
     
    “No,” answered a familiar voice. “It’s me,
Ken. Where are you at, Jimmy? Are you all right?”
     
    “We’re okay here. I just finished up at the
mall. There are a lot of people here; the mall’s packed. I’m just
glad I don’t have to stop at the bank. It looks like it just
closed .”
     
    “Listen kid,” said Ken. “Get out of