Justin Kramon Read Online Free PDF

thought I was in a very deep concentration. But then it just kept going and going. It was the first time it had happened in the history of the competition. After thirty seconds, they realized I was asleep and disqualified me. A pity. They said my performance was top-notch until then.”
    “I’m sorry,” Finny said.
    “Very kind, my dear,” Mr. Henckel said, and concluded his story with a smile-frown.
    He then offered everyone coffee. It was his favorite drink, and he dosed himself with it constantly. His breath smelled strongly of coffee, and he treated the drink as if it were some vital drug.
    “I sleep better when I have a cup before bed,” he confided at the kitchen table, where they sat next to the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Mr. Henckel mopped at his forehead with the yellowed handkerchief, which Finny was afraid might touch her, so she scooted back.
    Earl served the coffee out of a silver pot, into white china cups. Despite the indifferent housekeeping, there were these odd flourishes in the house—a fancy coffee set, a piano that must have cost a fortune, some antique-looking furniture.
    “My mother’s,” Mr. Henckel said about the coffee set.
    “It’s very nice,” Finny said.
    “I have decaf normally,” Earl said. “But since it’s a special occasion.”
    “I’ve never drunk coffee before,” Finny said.
    Mr. Henckel raised his cup and proposed a toast. “To our lovely young lady friend,” he said. And then seemed unable to help going on: “Who has every bright prospect in front of her, and appears more than wise enough not to squander them in the manner of some of her elders.”
    They all clinked cups and drank. Finny nearly spit her first mouthful out, the taste was so bitter. But she swallowed it down, then asked if she could have some sugar.
    “Of course,” Mr. Henckel said, and brought out a little silver dish of sugar from the cabinet, and a silver pitcher of cream from the refrigerator. “Forgive my rudeness, my dear.” He offered a smile-frown with his apology.
    “It’s fine,” Finny said. “My mom says I act like I live in a barnyard.”
    “Well, you live next to one,” Earl said, and Finny laughed.
    “May I ask what distinguished family you come from?” Mr. Henckel asked.
    “The Shorts,” Finny said. “But I’m not sure they’re distinguished. My dad quotes a lot of famous people.”
    “So he is a man who knows history.”
    “I guess.”
    “Finny has an older brother,” Earl said.
    “And what is this young fellow’s name?”
    “Sylvan.”
    “Perhaps you could bring him by one afternoon, and we could increase our eminent party by one.”
    “Maybe,” Finny said. Though she knew what her brother would say about her new friends. Misfits. It was a word he’d picked up from Stanley, and he used it to describe anyone he didn’t approve of. But Finny had grown to like the word, and thought it was a pretty good description of how she saw herself. As someone who just didn’t fit. A square peg in a world of round holes. Earl and his father were the same.
    “I’d like to meet Sylvan sometime,” Earl said, his cheeks glowing a little, “but it doesn’t have to be soon.”
    “Okay,” Finny said.
    Mr. Henckel had fallen asleep again. Finny heard his breath whistling in his nose.
    “It’s usually not this bad,” Earl said about his dad. “I think he just got excited that you were over and it made him tired. I think he likes you. You’re very nice and interesting to talk to.”
    “Thank you.”
    Earl had a way, Finny saw, of building up the people around him. He’d done it before with his dad, when he’d talked about his piano playing, and now he’d turned his attention to Finny. It was a way of making people feel accomplished and important, and they immediately became comfortable in his presence.
    “I think I should go soon,” Finny said, as she watched Mr. Henckel’s comb-over flop back down over his ear. “But I wanted to say bye to your