Pewter Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

got the forms started and put your name on one of them. Let me go through this again … Sarsky, Jenny. Oh, here it is. You go by your second name rather than your first, do you?”
    “Yes, I like Jenny better.”
    Henry wondered what her first name was but didn’t want to interrupt.
    “Well, here you go. You’ll need to return them before the middle of August. That’s the cutoff date for new student registrations.”
    “Okay. Oh! By the way, how many students go here?” Jenny asked.
    “As of yesterday, we have 428 attending this fall, but we expect it to be higher than that, probably closer to 450.”
    Henry smiled, pleased with his off the cuff assessment.
    Jenny turned to him. “You were pretty close, Henry.”
    Out in the hall, Henry was about to ask Jenny what her first name was when a group of football players trotted through the front entrance on their way to the gym and showers. Jenny was greeted with whistles and howls. “Hey, what are you doing tonight? Can you help me with my homework?” Another player boasted to a teammate that he’d get her phone number. Henry felt sick. He thought for sure he was going to lose the girl of his dreams to some undeserving football player.
    Jenny only said, “Let’s go.”
    “Yeah, sure,” he answered, his voice cracking. “There’s a confectionary down the street where some of us hang out from time to time. It’s on our way home, if you want to go.” Jenny nodded. Henry was glad to get out of there. Those darn football players had tried to steal his girl! Between the warm weather, the long walk and his storm of emotions, he needed a drink in the worst way.
    They headed towards the front doors. Once again, Henry rushed ahead of Jenny to open the door for her. As happened often on the prairies, the beautiful summer sky was suddenly marred by dark grey clouds rolling towards them from the west. The wind had picked up even more since they had arrived, stirring the first few fallen leaves as they strolled down the walkway.
    “So, where’s this confectionary you mentioned?” Jenny asked.
    “Is it near here? Should we use the crosswalk … or go down further and take our chances?”
    She’d succeeded in surprising Henry. Was it possible Jenny felt the same way he did when they held hands? His heart juddered at the possibility. But it would be an even longer walk back if they went that way and Henry decided to go with his better judgment.
    “Nah, we’d better cross here. The confectionary is only a block away and straight ahead.”
    Jenny nodded, but kept her eyes down and Henry sensed her disappointment. At least, he hoped she was disappointed.
    They crossed College Avenue and headed down Toronto Street into an older part of the city that was well treed on both sides. Traffic was minimal in this area as most residents parked their cars behind their homes.
    “The Golden Gate Confectionary is right up there,” Henry finally said, breaking the silence. “You can just barely make out the sign.”
    “Oh, good, I’m really thirsty. I can hardly wait to have a drink.” Jenny’s eyes sparkled and Henry was glad to see it.
    At the confectionary, Henry opened the door for her once more. It was bright, freshly painted and well-organized, nearly the opposite of Mr. Engelmann’s grocery store.
    The drink coolers lined the back wall from one end to the other. They walked to the back and peered through the glass doors. These coolers displayed the entire bottle, quite different from Mr. Engelmann’s half cooler where the doors slid opened horizontally to reveal only the bottle caps on the top. Henry couldn’t help but feel that unless Mr. Engelmann made some major changes to his store, he wouldn’t be able to compete with the new ones opening up.
    Henry grabbed a Dr. Pepper while Jenny opted for an Orange Crush. They took the drinks to the cashier, who asked if there was anything else they wanted. Henry had only enough to pay for his drink with a few cents left over.