Out of Order Read Online Free PDF Page B

way he said it let the group know that it was definitely not what they wanted and the group was quick to agree.
    The matter settled, Danny gathered up his papers. “There are fresh bagels, pastry, and toast in the buffet line as well as coffee and Sanka, so please, help yourself.” He smiled at his audience and said, “We have quite an adventure-filled day ahead.”
    ***
    “Well, this sucks,” the auburn-haired girl said as she plopped down hard in the open seat next to Jason. They had just finished their tour of the silk cooperative, a fifty-minute scripted sales presentation that had proven to be effective with most of the tour, and were climbing aboard the bus for the ride back to the hotel. “I didn’t come to India to go shopping,” she said, reaching up to feel if there was anything coming out of the round air-conditioning vent.
    Jason had only caught a few glimpses of her as they were shuttled from shop to shop but now, with her sitting next to him, he was surprised to see how attractive she was. Her clear, brown eyes were several shades lighter than her shoulder-length hair, pulled back into a ponytail that poked out through the back of a Toronto Blue Jays baseball cap. Her skin, flushed from the late afternoon sun, was smooth, and a thin line of sweat beaded up on the ridge above her lip. Despite an oversized tee shirt and a pair of khakis just baggy enough to be in style, Jason could see that she had the lean body of an athlete, the small bump on her nose the souvenir of a home-plate collision or a well-spiked volleyball. She pulled a water bottle out of her backpack and, after taking a long pull, offered it to Jason saying, “We gotta get outta here.”
    Jason waved off the bottle, holding up one of his own. “Get out of where? India?”
    “This bus. This whole tour thing,” she said, gesturing with the bottle before taking another drink.
    “It’s just the first day,” Jason said. “I’m sure it’ll get better.” He didn’t know if he believed it but he was hoping it was true.
    “I doubt it. I asked Danny Boy if the whole trip was like this and he said that no, in some places the shopping is even better. This is what I get for buying a raffle ticket from a nursing home.”
    “You won this trip?” Jason said, thinking about how much he had paid.
    “Yeah, go figure. A two-dollar ticket and I win India. If it’s all like today I got ripped off. I’m sorry,” she said, turning to face him. “I’m not usually like this. I’m Rachel.”
    “Jason,” he said, offering her his hand. “What part of Canada are you from?”
    “Brockville. Up on the St. Lawrence, the Thousand Islands area.” She paused and looked at him sideways.
    “It’s your accent. The way you said dollar and sorry ,” he said, accentuating the Os in both words. “That and the Canadian flag pin on your backpack.”
    “Clever. You from the States?”
    “New York—but not the city. A small town called Corning.”
    She nodded. “It’s a pretty area. I rode my bike down your way back in high school. So did you win this trip, too?”
    “I’m not that lucky. I got it through a travel agent who has some explaining to do when I get back.”
    Danny came down the aisle of the bus counting the heads of his charges before shouting something up to the driver in Hindi, the driver responding by pulling the door shut and easing the engine into gear. The afternoon sun was blinding but the thick polarized tint on the windows made it look like midnight.
    “Well,” Jason said with an exaggerated sigh, “at least we get to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow. That ought to be cool.”
    Rachel shook her head. “Not me.”
    “It’s part of the tour. We leave the hotel at six a.m….”
    “I know. I just don’t want to see it.” She unzipped her backpack and shoved the water bottle inside, crushing down wads of papers and loose camera gear.
    “You come all the way to India on a free trip and you don’t want to see the most famous thing