Life In The Palace Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Are you really interested?” I instantly regretted my anger.
    His face stayed calm, “Only if you want me to be.”
    I looked at him, searching for some insincerity. His face was open and friendly.
    I sighed, “It’s a slightly long story.”
    “I can handle it.”
    “My sister Stacy ran away from home, except for real. No one knows where she is.”
    He looked concerned, “Is she in trouble?”
    “It depends on how you define trouble. My parents banned her from seeing her boyfriend. She played along, but when she went away to college, he went, too. When Dad found out he went mental, then she dropped out of college and that was the last we heard of her.”
    “So could be she’s dead in a ditch somewhere but more likely she’s just shacked up with lover boy?”
    I nodded. I opened my mouth to add more, but paused when I saw a tall Rastafarian with grey tinged beard wave at Seth. Seth waved back, but pointedly stayed looking at me.
    “What was so wrong with the guy?”
    “Rob’s from the wrong side of town. He didn’t finish high school, and he has numerous tattoos. Although he did hold down a steady job, it was as a mechanic in a bike shop. He rides a large motorcycle that probably cost more than my Dad’s car.”
    Seth smirked, “I presume your sister’s not the biker type.”
    “Hell, no. Stacy’s the head cheerleader, valedictorian, straight A’s, early-acceptance-to-Dartmouth type.”
    “How did they meet?” Seth asked.
    “My mom has a florist shop in a neighborhood strip mall that’s becoming more upmarket. The bike shop on the end had a ten year lease that they refused to break. So while the rest of the strip mall got yuppyfied, Ted’s Hogs stayed on.”
    Seth nodded to show he was following.
    “Mom needed extra help on the weekend, and Stacy wanted to earn some extra money for college. Although, I bet now they wish they’d hired some illegal immigrant like everyone else, and just given Stacy the cash.
    “Still, it would have been fine if it hadn’t been for Grandma Mary’s broken hip. Mom was so busy with doctors, nursing homes, homecare assistants and rehab, that it really helped to have someone else take over in the afternoons. Stacy was accomplished enough to watch the shop, study and have time to manicure her nails. It seems she had a little too much time on her hands, even with a French manicure.”
    Seth was smiling, “So somehow Rob starts talking to the lovely Stacy and the rest was history?”
    “Yep. In the end it only took one look for the game to be up. One afternoon Mom popped into the store to see Stacy. As they were busy finishing the McKenzie funeral wreath, in walked Rob. Stacy looked up and smiled. Mom took one look at the expression on her face and freaked. This was definitely their big mistake. Stacy was perfect, but she was still a teenager. Banning her from seeing her unsuitable boyfriend was the same as buying them tickets to the Love Shack in Vegas.”
    “That’s when she ran away?” he asked, simultaneously nodding a greeting across the circle to two very effeminate guys with sweat dripping off of their bare chests.
    “No. She pretended to go along with it. She must have still been seeing him the whole time, though, because off she went to college and everything seemed normal. Until my Aunt Helen called from Detroit to ask if Mom seen Stacy’s Facebook page. There she was, and there was Rob. Mom tried frantically to call Stacy. Dad threatened to drive to Connecticut to get her back. That’s when she ran away.”
    I paused; he seemed to be thinking.
    “What’s it to you? Why does her taking off mean you have to?”
    I stared blankly ahead, “When she took off, it was like the night of the living dead in our house. Our dog, Buddy, spent most of his time curled up under my bed. I spent most of my time at Spike’s. At a certain point, I just had to go home. That’s when Mom started baking cookies. Dad would ask me about my assignments and then casually