Dream Smashers Read Online Free PDF

tonight?” I dunk an Oreo in
the cold milk.
    “Next door at Agnes’ house.” Grams opens her
Oreo to eat the cream from the middle first.
    “Grams…can I ask you something?”
    She raises her brow and then nods. “Shoot.”
She finishes her cookie, grabs her Virginia Slims and lights a
cigarette.
    “Okay, but first you have to promise not to
get mad.”
    “For cripes sake, Autumn, I can’t promise
that. I will promise to listen though, so spill it.”
    “Why don’t you ever call the police when
Jacinda breaks in?”
    She takes a long drag on the death stick.
Little lines accentuate her puckered lips. “I know this is hard for
you to believe, but no matter what your mother does, I’ll still
love her. She’s my daughter. The same goes for you.”
    “Okay, if you love her, why don’t you help
her?” My gut seizes. “I mean…uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it
sound like that.”
    “I know.” Grams looks at me. “You’re a very
bright girl and I know what you’re thinking. You think that I’m an
enabler.”
    “I didn’t say that.” I push the milk,
peppered with black chunks, away. “I just think that if she’s
arrested, that maybe it would be some kind of wake-up call. You
know?”
    “Yes, I do know.” Grams reduces her life
sentence with another lung full of smoke. “Your grandfather and I
actually tried that route once. Not on our own, mind you. Your
great-aunt Tilda nagged us for months to do it. But as soon as we
discovered her living with you on the streets, we got the
authorities involved.” She smashes her cigarette into the ash tray.
“Your mom spent only about a week in a treatment facility before
she got kicked out. She continued using and lost custody of you.
Now that you’re safe, she can do whatever she wants. She’s a grown
woman.”
    “Yeah, but you still buy her groceries and
stuff.”
    “Of course I do. I’m not going to let her
starve to death. I’ll buy her food, but never give her cash.” She
shakes her head.
    The house phone rings. I jump up to answer
it.
    “Hello.”
    “Dude, why didn’t you answer my texts?” Rainy
asks. “Are we still on for tonight?”
    I pull my cell phone from my pocket. It’s on
silent. “You’re alive? I thought maybe you’d be lying in a ditch by
now or something.”
    “Har har har. Meet me at my place in twenty
minutes. ‘Kay?”
    “Yeah, whatever. What are we doing?”
    “Rainbow Pizza, baby.”
    “’Kay. See ya.” I hang up the phone. “I’m
going to get ready.”
    Grams clears her throat. “Before you do, let
me ask you something. Are you going to church on Sunday?”
    “Do I have to?”
    “Of course not. May I ask why you don’t want
to?”
    I shrug.
    Grams nods and I walk down the hall to my
room.
    What to wear, what to wear. It’s not a hard
question to answer because there are only two possible choices in
my closet at the moment—the brown straight skirt with cream blouse
or the black dress. I go with the brown and cream. Then I can wear
my brown flats.
    I pull my dark hair into a ponytail, fluff a
little blush on my cheeks and a little liner to highlight my brown
eyes and out the door I go.
    “Don’t be out too late,” Grams hollers.
    “I won’t. Have fun at bunko.”
     
    ***
     
    “Dude, hold up. I need to say something
before we walk in here.” Rainy pauses before we reach the door to
Rainbow Pizza. She’s standing in a puddle from the recent rain. She
looks left, then right, all serious like. “What the fuck are you
wearing?”
    “Oh my gawd, are you serious? You stopped to
ask me that? It happens to be a very classy skirt and blouse.
Unlike the childish crap you’re wearing.” She’s still wearing the
pink and green schoolgirl skirt she had on this morning, except now
she’s wearing matching leg warmers too.
    “Paleeeez. My stuff ain’t childish, it’s
original.” She looks at her Converse. “Well, my shoes aren’t. But
the rest is. How many plaid hot pink skirts do you see