Gifts and Consequences Read Online Free PDF Page B

Tyler back into the front room.
    At 6:45 they were finally outside and on their way.  Lisa said, “I can’t believe you got tickets!  How’d you get ‘em?”
    “I’ve got connections,” he answered, thinking of the sucker that had given him the thousand-dollar tickets.  Not bothering to open the car door for his date, he chuckled and thought, Oh, did you say Lisa Knapp?  I thought you said Lisa Halloway.   My bad, Sucka!
    This date was going to make him.  Lisa might not be the hottest girl in school, but she was the most popular.  Graduation was in less than a month—just enough time to step up his dating.  A date with Lisa Halloway meant no girl in the school was off limits. 
    Anything else that happens tonight is just gravy.
    Tyler jumped over the door into his convertible.  The happy couple left a trail of rubber in front of the Halloway’s house. 
     
    #####
     
    “He just left the Halloway residence,” said Marcus.  “Is that enough confirmation for you?”
    “No,” Jonathan answered.  “We need to be sure he drives toward the concert.  He could be alone in the car.  There’s still a slight chance he goes to the other girl’s house.”
    “Some people would mistake your thoroughness with faith in the integrity of mankind,” said Marcus
    Jonathan grinned.  “We don’t make choices for them, Marcus, but we do give them the benefit of the doubt until they officially screw up.  Then we give them a little more rope to see how bad they screw up.”  They watched the blip on the map from the tracking device Oscar had placed on Tyler’s car.  Right on Lake Avenue, left on Como Park.
    Jonathan asked, “Is Charlie in place?”
    “That’s him right there, exactly where he’s supposed to be,” said Marcus pointing at a mark on Katherine’s monitor.  She wore a brown sweater with an obnoxious teal collared shirt underneath.  Jonathan smirked.
    “OK, if he takes a right on Aurora, make the call and I’ll contact Oscar.”
    The whirr of the CPUs filled the room as the blip stopped a few car lengths short of the intersection.  The motionless blip taunted the observers.  Eventually, it started forward at a crawl, then accelerated quickly to the right.  Marcus was dialing before Tyler even made it out of the intersection.
    The phone only rang once.  “You’re in, Charlie,” said Marcus.
     
    #####
     
    The clock on the wall was the only adornment in the room.  6:46.  Lisa Knapp peeked past the flannel blanket that covered her front window into the parking lot.  No new cars.  It had been a set up from the beginning. 
    At 6:50 she gave in and dialed Tyler’s number.  Each ring grated more sharply in her ear.  Just when she expected to hear voice mail, Tyler’s answered and said, “Yeah?”  There was a lot of background noise.
    Lisa didn’t know what to say. 
    “Hello?” he said again. 
    “Tyler?  It’s Lisa.”
    “Oh, hey.”
    “Are we—going out?  On a date?”
    “Oh, yeah, no.  I, uh, have a thing.  Sorry.”
    The background noise ended with a click and she was left holding the receiver.  She didn’t bother to put it back on the hook.  Her hand moved to the computer’s On switch and she stared at the monitor. 
    Lisa was surprised there were no tears in her eyes.  Surprised that the embarrassment and pain were minor emotions.  Overshadowing them all was relief.  Not because the date had been a sham, but because of what she would now allow herself to do. 
    The Windows start-up tone brought her back to the apartment.  Her image was visible as a reflection on the screen and she was embarrassed at her former optimism. 
    She opened Microsoft Works and started a new journal entry.
     
    Saturday, May 7, 2011 – My Last Diary Entry
    At the beginning of the school year I wrote this:
     
     “My senior year lies ahead of me.  I don’t want to face it but I will.  I don’t want to graduate.  I don’t want to keep trying.  But I will.  Until the day