Suffer the Children Read Online Free PDF

angels to monsters without a reason.”
    “He probably saw a video or had a nightmare— Oh . My. God .”
    Bethany watched Ramona duck in her seat. “What? What? ”
    “I can’t believe it. It’s Ross. The guy I fired yesterday.”
    Ross stood near the Chinese food place with a tray in his hands, scanning for an empty table.
    “ ‘Oh my God’ is right,” Bethany said. “He’s cute.”
    Ramona shielded her face with her hand. “It was kind of hard for me to see him that way, to be honest,” she lied.
    “But now you don’t work together. I can see why you fired the guy. Now there’s nothing to stop you from sleeping with him.”
    Ramona burst out laughing. She shook her head. “Look at you. Drooling over the vicarious thrill.”
    “I’m a normal woman with normal urges.”
    “Normal, huh? To quote Inigo Montoya, I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
    Ross spotted an empty table and headed toward it. He disappeared from view.
    “And there he goes.”
    “Show’s over.”
    “So why did you fire him?”
    “Because I couldn’t trust myself to keep my hands off him.”
    The women laughed at their silliness. An elderly couple at a nearby table turned and glared at them, which made them laugh even harder. This was one of the reasons Ramona looked forward to these lunches. She could let her hair down with another grown-up.
    “So you’re sure it’s not the day care lady,” Bethany prompted, renewing their previous conversation.
    Ramona barely heard her. Her eyes scanned the playground. The children swarmed over the monkey bars and slides and rock-climbing wall.
    Josh was gone.
    She stood. “I’ll be right back.”
    “He’s right there,” Bethany told her, pointing him out.
    Ramona took a deep breath. Her heart pounded. “Oh. Right.”
    Bethany eyed her with obvious concern. “Are you okay?”
    That’s a big question , Ramona thought.
    “I’m fine,” she said, wearing a crooked smile. She remained standing.
    For her, lunch was over.
Joan
    2 hours before Herod Event
    Saturday morning.
    Nate played outside with his friends, and Doug was sleeping late. Joan enjoyed the opportunity to have some special Mommy and Megan time before her movie date with Coral.
    They’d mixed more play dough out of salt, flour, water, cream of tartar, and food coloring, and shaped it into Megan’s favorite animals. After that, Joan helped her with a craft project while they listened to a kids’ disco CD. Megan enjoyed working with scissors. The hair on the left side of her head was still ragged from an attempt to give herself a haircut last week.
    Now she sat on the floor wearing a ragged purple princess costume and plastic tiara, cutting out heart shapes from a piece of paper.
    “I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait .” Megan grinned at Joan. “Santa’s coming.”
    Joan laughed. “That’s right, sweetie.”
    She tried to remember what it was like to be so young and waiting for Christmas to come. The sheer glee and wonder. The nearest adult equivalent was winning the lottery. Still smiling, she started an early lunch for the kids: bologna, cheese, and mustard on toast.
    The front door opened. Joan poked her head out of the kitchen intime to see Nate huff into the house. He shucked his coat and kicked off his boots.
    “Home again, home again, jiggety-jig,” he said. “The projectile son returns.”
    “Prodigal son,” Joan said, correcting him. Nate often came home with mannerisms and phrases he picked up from Keith, his best friend.
    “Yup, that’s me. Can I watch some TV?”
    “Not right now, okay? We’re having lunch in a few minutes; then we’re going to the park.”
    “Oh. Excellent. I’m starving .”
    Joan turned on the radio and set the dial to Woodradio 1300 AM so she could check the weather as she finished making the sandwiches. Nate sat at the kitchen table, gazing at an open textbook while wearing his Giants hat.
    She glanced at the color pages displaying the