Fear and Laundry Read Online Free PDF Page A

an instrument. I was about to remind her of this when she carried the piece of paper over to me and held it out. I took it from her, saw there was writing on it but it was all upside down. I flipped it around and saw it was a flier mock-up.
    “Who’s Impressionable Youth?” I asked, looking at the messily drawn logo.
    “We are.” She spread her hands. “It’s the name I came up with for the band.” Inspiration had struck her late last night, she said, and she’d sketched the flier first thing this morning.
    I studied the sheet of paper again. “Oh.”
    “You like it?”
    “Yeah,” I said, truthfully. “It’s good. It works. But this says we’re playing at Lynch’s on the twenty-seventh.” A week before the benefit. “You didn’t already book this, did you?” I asked, horrified.
    No, she said, but she planned to talk to Roy about it as soon as possible.  As much as she hated to admit it, she shared her brother’s opinion on this. “It’ll be good for us to play at least once before the big show.”
    “But,” I groaned as Clyde 2 jumped in my lap, bumping his head affectionately against my chin, “We only have three quarters of a band and four songs,” I reminded her.
    “We’ve got four weeks to fix all that.” She made it sound like we had four months. She reclaimed the flier and looked it over. “I know this doesn’t look so hot, by the way. But I figure you can fix it later...Right?”
    When I didn’t reply, she looked at me. “Look, don’t be pissed about the Jake thing, okay? Everything’ll work out; you’ll see.”
    When I still didn’t answer, she flopped down beside me, sighing dramatically. “Jake’s only been back a day and already everyone’s reverted to acting like the world revolves around him. Jake this, Jake that. Honestly, it makes me sick. Not that I expect you to get it. You’re so lucky to be an only child.” She tried to catch my eye but I wouldn’t look at her, just went on stroking Clyde 2’s back.
    “So let me get this straight,” I said evenly, “Because you’re jealous of your brother, you get to just ignore my opinion?”
    “What?” It hadn’t been what she’d expected me to say and she half laughed with surprise. But I finally looked up, and she saw I was serious.
    Was I part of this band or wasn’t I? I asked.
    “Course you are. And I am not jealous of him,” she objected, scowling. “Wow, you are really hung up on this idea. Did I miss something?” Her voice took on a teasing tone and she tried to tickle my side. When had I become one of her brother’s groupies?
    “It’s not like that,” I glowered, dodging and batting her hand away. I knew she and Jake didn’t get along, I said, but I thought maybe for the good of the band she could “you know, suck it up .”
    She frowned when I quoted her earlier words back to her. “Oh, please,” she said, crossing her arms. But she sounded a little uncertain.
    We watched Clyde 2 roll around on his back, begging for love, for a little while. When Lia tried to scratch the cat’s belly, he clammed into a ball around her hand, sinking his claws into her forearm and pressing his teeth into her wrist.
    “Ah! Jesus, Clyde! Okay, already.” She shook free of him and got up, going to the door.
    “Where’re you going?”
    “I’ll be right back.” I followed and peered after her, watched her approach Jake’s door and knock on the jamb. “Hey,” she barked at her brother, “Can I talk to you?” I didn’t hear his reply, but she stepped into his room and didn’t reemerge for several minutes. When she came marching back up the hall, I dashed back to the bed and sat with my hands in my lap.
    “There. He’s in. You happy now?” she asked when she returned.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. Only he doesn’t exactly know it.” Reading the question on my face, she said, barely suppressing a smile, “I told him if he wants the gig, he has to audition for us tomorrow. And pass an interview.”
    “You