Destroy All Cars Read Online Free PDF

Sadie can’t quietly look something up on the computer. She has to go right up to the reference person and announce herself. The library information guy stares up at her with his thick glasses. Sadie is a people person. Why get it done in half the time on the computer when you can interact with a fellow human and impresshim with your earnest caring, plus maybe someday he will vote for you when you run for president? Sadie used to say there was something special and important about every person on the earth. I was like, yeah, they are all taking the place of a salmon or a bear or one of the other animals we have driven to extinction.
    Sadie and thick glasses guy start chatting and researching and bonding. Everyone bonds with Sadie Kinnell. When he’s done everything one human can possibly do for another, she thanks him sincerely and goes upstairs to continue her search. I watch her go. Meanwhile, thick glasses guy goes back to his desk, all smiles. He’s totally in love with her. It can happen that quick.
    I sit there, watching all of this, slunk down in my chair, gazing over the top of my book. The room is still electric with the presence of Sadie, even after she’s gone. I look at the clock. I look at my stuff. What should I do? Go find her? Sit here? Pretend I don’t know she’s somewhere above me, in the same building I’m in?
    Before I can stop myself, I get up and grab my coat and backpack. I’m going upstairs to see what she’s doing. Maybe I’ll pretend I’m looking for something myself. Or maybe I’ll spy on her. Or maybe I’ll hide in the bathroom.
    I sneak up the stairs, creeping slowly, watching above me. When I make it to the second floor, I stash my stuff in the Art and Music Room and peek across the hallway at the Social Sciences and Government Room, where I’msure she is. I think for a second. What am I doing exactly? I’m not sure. I screw up my courage and go for it anyway. I tiptoe across the hall.
    The periodical shelf is by the door, so I go there first. I grab a copy of Psychology Today. I open it and pretend to read. I scan the room. I don’t see Sadie. But I listen for a minute and I hear her in the bookshelves. She’s mumbling to herself like she does sometimes. “B…B…here we go…B…B-E…B-E-A…okay, that’s it…Charles Beatty…Douglas Beatty…” It sort of kills me how she does things like that. Cute, weird things. She really was the perfect girl for me. At least on a cuteness/ weirdness level.
    I listen and figure out exactly where she is. I think about sneaking up behind her, maybe surprising her somehow, or shushing her, or something funny like that. But would that be funny? Or creepy? She isn’t my girlfriend anymore. We aren’t, technically, even friends.
    I decide to bail. It’s a terrible feeling. To be that close to someone and then realize you have no access. You are not in her life. Not at all. I put Psychology Today back and duck out of the room. I run back to Art and Music, where I hide behind some Elton John CDs.
    James Hoff
    Junior AP English
    Mr. Cogweiller
    ASSIGNMENT: personal reflection on a place or location
REFLECTIONS ON THE MALL
    I love the rumor that the air in malls is oxygen enriched to make you stupid and make you buy stuff. Why are you there if you’re not stupid and going to buy stuff?
    I love watching people at the mall. Junior high girls shuffling around, chewing gum, flipping their hair, their cells stuck to the sides of their faces. Oh mah gawd! they say into their phones, as their pea-sized brains struggle to comprehend the food court.
    Then the boys, in their camo cargo shorts, Old Navy tees, backward baseball caps. Checking out the girls. Checking out the new PlayStation. Checking out the Spicy Chicken Wraps at California Kitchen. They have curly blond locks, pucca shell necklaces. Remarkably, they are still wearing shorts and Vans