Freak City Read Online Free PDF Page B

wasn’t wearing any makeup and there was something untamed about her.
    She reminded me of Ronja Robbersdaughter. My mom had read that book to me a long time ago. The girl who lived in the woods, led a band of thieves, and talked to pixies. “Ronja,” I murmured. I had thought out loud.
    But she didn’t respond to that embarrassment in the slightest, just looked at me in a challenging way. As if she were waiting for something. An apology, maybe?
    She had probably turned around briefly three days ago when Claudio, Tobias, and I had been chasing after her. Maybe she had memorized my face and wanted an explanation from me now. It had been stupid of me just to waltz in here.
    She handed me the pool cue. I had only played pool once in my life. Bashfully, I took the stick, aimed, and missed.
    The curly-haired girl looked focused. She still hadn’t said a word. Maybe that was her way of punishing me for the chase. She took the cue from me again, aimed, and sank the blue ball in a pocket.
    “Cool!” Tommek jumped down from his pinball machine and came over to us. He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up of appreciation and beamed at the girl. He must’ve liked her, too. Maybe they even knew each other well already.
    She continued to maintain her dogged silence. I wished she would say something. Anything.
    There were footsteps near the entrance. A woman wearing a leather jacket and tight jeans sailed in. In her hand, she held a red motorcycle helmet that had a sticker of a dying soldier. “War is kind of dumb,” stood under it. I smiled.
    “Hi, people!” She waved at Tommek and tossed her helmet onto a table. Then she went behind the counter, as if the place belonged to her, took some seltzer water from the shelf, and drank it right from the bottle.
    “Sweet, dear, hardworking Tommek!” She came over to the pool table and poked him in the side. “You still owe me the registration lists. Have they reappeared somewhere in your chaos? I can see you’ve been unbelievably busy here again.”
    Tommek blushed. “I think the lists are in the filing basket in the office,” he murmured without conviction. Awkwardly, he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. The woman rolled her eyes. Her gaze wandered further, and she looked at me with curiosity.
    “And you’re a friend of Leah’s?” she asked, winking at the girl.
    Leah. So that was her name. A name that consisted of just four letters. Now Tommek looked over at Leah, too.
    I had no idea how I should reply to that. “I, uh . . . ,” I mumbled uncertainly and lowered my eyes.
    And then something strange happened. The woman raised her hands and formed a few shapes with them in quick succession. It all happened so fast that I didn’t understand what was going on. Her fingers practically flew through the air. She briefly gestured toward me but continued to look at Leah. I watched the two women with fascination. Now it was Leah’s turn. Her hands executed the same strange moves as her conversation partner. She looked at me snidely out of the corner of her eye and made a face. I had no idea what she was saying.
    Sign language! Of course, I knew what that was. I had seen it on a talk show on television. But live and right next to me?
    “Is she . . .” I started to stutter and looked helplessly at Tommek. “Is she deaf-mute?”
    Leah put her hands on her hips and looked at me challengingly. She stamped her foot, and her eyes flashed. Then she slowly made a gesture. She touched her ear with an index finger and then brought both hands together in front of her, palms facing downward. She spoke without making a sound, but so slowly that I understood what she said.
    And indeed, Tommek translated. “She isn’t deaf-mute, she just can’t hear. And she can read lips a little bit, as you can see. By the way, almost no deaf people are mute; they just don’t feel like talking.”
    “Why?” Confused, I looked at Tommek.
    “Negative experiences and all that.” Tommek shrugged his