Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls Read Online Free PDF

the crazy man with the hook?" Charlie twists his body into a menacing shape, his face a lunatic's grimace.
    "Or the wild goat man of Baltimore County?" Walt reaches out and grabs Bobbi Jo by the neck.
    She pushes him away. "It's not funny!" She sounds like she might cry again.
    "Ah, we forgot," Walt says. "Bobbi Jo's just a little girl, scared of the dark." He tries to hug her, but she won't let him near her.
    "I'm going home." She throws her beer into the bushes and scrambles out of the creek.
    "We'll go with you." Ellie follows her into the woods and I go after them.
    Ellie and I drink our beer as we walk. "Chugalug, chugalug," we chant, sashaying back and forth, hips bumping, making Bobbi Jo laugh in spite of herself.
    The boys catch up with us. Charlie takes my hand. "Don't be mad, Long Tall Sally," he whispers in my ear, his breath warm and tickly.
    "You really scared Bobbi Jo."
    "How about you? Did I scare you?"
    I shrug and toss my empty beer bottle into the bushes. I was scared, but I don't want to admit it. He'll tease me.
    "Elmgrove isn't known for maniacs loose in the woods," he says.
    "We're not that far from Spring Grove," I mutter.
    The dark trees press in around us. I hear rustling sounds like a person walking carefully, following us, trying not to make any noise.
Snap
goes a twig. I can almost feel someone watching us. Buddy. It must be Buddy looking for Cheryl.
    Not quite accidentally, I move closer to Charlie.
    He lets go of my hand and slips his arm around me. We walk side by side, his head at my shoulder. Why oh why isn't he taller? Or me shorter? We kiss a few times. It's nice but not like it would be if I loved him.
    "What about Cheryl?" Bobbi Jo asks. "Shouldn't we find her and tell her we're leaving?"
    Walt shoots a look at Charlie and Paul. They laugh. "I think Cheryl can find her way home without our help."
    We stumble across the park, laughing and singing the Eastern High fight song. I throw up in the street and Charlie wipes my face with his T-shirt, which I think is very gallant. He kisses me again even though my breath must stink of beer and vomit.
    When the Dawsons' dog starts barking, the boys take off for their houses. "See ya tomorrow," Walt shouts to Bobbi Jo.
    "Sleep tight," Charlie hollers. "Don't let the bedbugs bite!"
    We wave and watch them disappear around a corner, reeling and holding each other up, pretending to be drunk. I can hear them laughing even when I can't see them. I feel sad all of a sudden, lonely. If only the night could go on and on and never end. If only I was holding Charlie's hand. If only I was kissing him. I think I like him more than I thought.
    "Don't forget," Ellie tells Bobbi Jo. "We're leaving for school at eight fifteen. Don't be late!"
    "I'll be ready," she says. "I've always wanted to see what Eastern's like inside. No nuns watching you all the time. No priests. I wish my parents would let me go there."
    "You won't see much," Ellie says. "All we do is pick up our report cards, hand in our textbooks, pay library fines, that kind of stuff. We'll be out by eleven."
    "It's really a waste of time," I say.
    "For you, maybe."
    Bobbi Jo slips through her front gate. As she opens her front door, I hear her father shout, "Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?" The door slams, but we can still hear him shouting at Bobbi Jo.
    "Uh-oh," Ellie whispers. "I hope
my
parents are asleep."
    I follow her into the house. The rooms are dark. I hear her father snoring, and I think of my father at my house, snoring beside my sleeping mother, the two of them folded up together in bed, the room dark and still, the house dark and still. My brother asleep or maybe listening to the radio, those late-night stations from far away. Rock-and-roll in New York or Pittsburgh or maybe even Detroit on a clear night. My room lit dimly by moonlight, my bed still made.
    For some reason, it scares me to picture my empty room. It's almost like I'm dead and my family is going on without me.