Slob - Ellen Potter [56]
Just then something occurred to me. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before, but now that I did, I felt a shiver run along the back of my neck. Not only was I going to see the man’s face, I was also going to see the whole crime. Everything. My parents’ faces, the gun firing. My mother screaming and the gun firing again. Could I bear it?
You’ll have to, I told myself. That’s all is there is to it.
When I got home, Honey happily pounced on me as usual and I realized that lately my walks with her were pretty lame. Once around the block and home again so I could get back to work on Nemesis. Today I decided to walk her over to Riverside Park, where I could let her run around off the leash. She must have had a premonition, because she jumped around like mad when she saw me take out the Crap Catcher and she was already straining at the leash when we stepped off the elevator. She pulled the whole way to the park. When we got there, I took off the Crap Catcher and unclipped her leash from her collar. She shot off like a stretched-out rubber band that’s suddenly been released. For a solid fifteen minutes she ran around me in a circle, her mouth stretched wide in that pit bull smile. When she finally winded herself she collapsed on the grass panting. I sat down with her, even though the ground was pretty cold. I watched the boats on the Hudson River gliding past and a helicopter flying over the boats. I watched some little kids racing each other on the promenade. I didn’t think about Nemesis or being fat or how Izzy had betrayed me. I was just . . . fine.
Honey probably feels like that all the time.
We sat there for a long time, and it was only when my butt began to feel a little numb from the cold that we started walking back home.
A half block away from my apartment, I saw a boy up ahead, holding something in front of him and having a hard time with it. He stopped every few seconds to rearrange the thing, lifting it higher, then dropping it down lower. It wasn’t until I was a few feet away that I realized it was Arthur. Right after that, I realized that she must be holding the carton of Retro TV Magazines.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my eyes fixed on the box.
“I’ve been impeached,” she said. She spat out the last word, her expression full of fury and disbelief. I felt like she wanted me to be shocked too.
“That’s awful,” I said. “Why are you taking the box back?”
I know that wasn’t very tactful, but Arthur didn’t seem to notice.
“Because it’s her fault I was impeached,” Arthur said, nodding contemptuously toward my building. “She steps all over my speech in gym class, and then she sneaks into the boys’ locker room! She had no right to do that. We had everything all planned out and she hogged all the attention.”
These were the most words I’d ever heard Arthur use at one time.
“I don’t think she did it deliberately,” I said as Arthur heaved the box up again. Part of me wanted to snatch it away from her and make a mad dash for the apartment. But I controlled myself.
“Yes, she did! She always has to be the boss. Well, now she is. GWAB called an emergency meeting after school and they took a vote. I’m out, she’s in. She’s the new president. Long live the queen.”
“King,” I said.
“Whatever. Anyway, I’m done with GWAB and I’m done with Jeremy Birnbaum.” She shifted the box to her right hip and started to walk away.
“Wait!” I said. “I still have another week to look at the Retro TV Magazines.”
Arthur didn’t stop walking. “So?” she called back.
I hurried to catch up with her. “So this isn’t fair. I gave you my clothes. We made a deal.”
“I’m not breaking it,” she said as she kept walking.
“Yes you are!” I must admit I was screeching now. “You’ve got the box right in your hands!”
“Not the box of Retro TV Magazines,” she said.
“Well . . . well.” Okay, now I was sputtering,