Give Me a Reason Read Online Free PDF Page A

friend’s identity all but
erased by prison walls and corporal punishment, their conversation would be
cordial yet stilted. It pained her to see Toni this way, but unlike all the
others who had walked away from the cold, empty woman who lived three floors
up, Krista could not. Until her dying day, she would never give up on the woman
who had saved her life.
    Filling her arms with bags, Kris walked into the building and
climbed the three flights of stairs, wishing that once she arrived at 3-D, she
could playfully joke about the tiresome ascent, but she didn’t dare. She knew
she couldn’t cross that line because it would give Toni a chance to send her
away. Along with everything else, Toni’s sense of humor had disappeared.
    Arriving at Toni’s door, she tapped on it with her foot, and
seconds later it was opened by her tall, dark-haired friend, dressed as she
always was, in clothes that were worn, faded and two sizes too large. Stepping
aside, Toni allowed Krista to enter.
    “Hi, Toni,” Kris said, leaning over to kiss the woman on the
cheek, and even though Toni backed away, Kris followed until her lips softly
grazed Toni’s face. “How you doing?”
    “I’m okay,” she said, her voice still as dull and lifeless as
it had been since the day Krista drove her away from the holding facility.
    As Toni aimlessly headed back to the lounge, Kris went to the
kitchen to put away the groceries. Emptying her meager purchases into the
cupboard, she quickly stashed the new items behind the old and opened the
refrigerator. Noticing that it only contained beer, water and one bottle of
vodka, she called out, “Did you eat tonight?”
    Not hearing a response, Kris checked to make sure there was
more beer in the crate on the floor and then walked into the lounge to check on
Toni. Finding her sitting on the sofa, looking through a stack of papers, Kris
repeated, “Toni, did you eat tonight.”
    “I had a sandwich delivered,” Toni said, without looking up.
    Aware that the woman could easily go without food for more
than just one day, Kris glanced at the door. There were three restaurants in
the area that delivered and long ago, Kris had made arrangements with all of
them. Explaining that her friend was a shut-in, she instructed them to knock
four times and Toni would slide a brown envelope containing payment under the
door. Once they received their money, the food was left in the hallway, and Toni
would retrieve it, but only after she watched from her window to make sure they
had left. Noticing the money envelope, along with a take-away menu sitting near
the door, Kris breathed easier. At least she was eating.
    “I checked the beer. You have about a dozen bottles left so
I’ll bring you over a new crate early next week. Okay?”
    “I only drink one a night. You don’t have to make a special
trip.”
    “I don’t mind,” Kris said, sitting on the arm of the sofa.
“Toni, I was thinking...maybe we could go out and see about getting you some
new clothes.”
    “I don’t need anything new. These are fine.”
    “Well, they are getting a bit worn, don’t you think?”
    Raising her eyes to glare at the woman, Toni said, “I don’t need anything new, Krista. We’ve gone through this
before.”
    The room went silent, and chewing on her lip for a moment,
Kris said, “Hey, I have an idea. Antonio’s is right down the street. How about
I order a pizza, and we have dinner together. Like old times. I’ll even buy a
bottle of wine. How’s that?”
    “I told you, I already had a sandwich.”
    “Oh, right,” Kris said. Noticing the pile of papers on the
coffee table, she said, “It looks like you have a busy weekend planned.”
    “Yeah. I have essays from two classes to grade. I need to
hand them back on Monday.”
    Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Kris tried to think of
something else to say. Years before, they could spend hours talking about a
recent bestseller, a new shop or people making headlines, but that was