A Quarrel Called: Stewards Of The Plane Book 1 Read Free Page B

either a boy wizard or an
ex-president. My middle name kind of sucks all by itself, so
I went with G. for short. My mom hates it, but my dad’s cool with it.”
    “I like it,” said Tara. “It’s sort of mysterious. What is it
short for?”
    Old
Guard? I thought. He didn’t look it; tall and brown, tight black
haircut, sure, but he was too soft to be street cool.
    “I could tell you,” he said, with a waggle of his eyebrows,
“But then I’d have to kill you.”
    Tara giggled. Melody giggled. I tried not to gag.

 

03. G.
      “Is that you, G.?”
called my dad from the back room. He was buried under some boxes, trying to
find his office supplies.
    I watched him from the doorway, feeling good about my
decision to move in with him. My mom’s new husband was kind of an asshole, and
I felt like I was always in the way there. Mom had never wanted me to come live
with Dad, but when it was obvious that Stanley and I were just never going to
get along, she finally relented. Dad was enthusiastic of course, and strangely,
so was I. “It’s me. I’m just going to take a shower – I’ll be back down in a
few, okay?”
      “Ah
ha!” Dad held up a book and came up for some air. “That military history
book you asked me about. I found it. I knew it was in here somewhere.” He gazed
around, bemused by the mess he had made.
    I perked up. “Cool. I’ll look at it after dinner. I know I’m
going to have to turn in a Senior project this year,
and if I can do something on the Nimitz, that would rock.”
    Dad grinned and tossed me the book. “I’ll go make some
hotdogs. They’ll be ready in thirty.”
    I threw the book on my bed and turned on the shower. Hot
steam filled up the bathroom but not before I got a chance to see myself in the
mirror – getting free lunch at the diner wasn’t doing me any favors. I was
going to have to do something about that over the summer. As a senior in ROTC,
I had to lead by example, and there was no way I was going to let some freshman
punk at a new school run circles around me in PT. Or any punk, for that matter:
Dion douchebag Dixon. Won’t miss him at all. It didn’t
make sense for a guy as big as me to have a bully problem… probably the only
thing that Stanley and I had ever agreed on.
    I was looking forward to a fresh start. Melody gave me her
number before she left the cafe, maybe I should call and ask her about her
friend with the hair .

 
    Hot dogs were probably the last thing I wanted to eat after
working at The Blossom all day, but I didn’t tell Dad that. He would be
crushed, and besides, they were a monthly tradition. Dogs on
the grill, chips and guacamole on the side, and sssh ,
a beer. I’ll never tell Mom about Dad giving me the occasional
beer—she’d go ballistic. But his theory was if alcohol wasn’t ‘mysterious’,
maybe I wouldn’t be so tempted by it when I was out at parties. If I ever got
invited to any, that is. Maybe that would change this year, hmmm.
    “Want to watch a movie after dinner?” I asked him as I
picked up the dirty plates.
    “I have to finish this week’s column, but I could probably
squeeze in a movie. What did you have in mind?”
    I had perused his Blu-ray library earlier and was amused
that there were hardly any ‘new’ movies in the whole collection. Luckily, we
both liked military flicks and samurai movies, so the choices were easy. “How
about The Great Escape ?”
    “Too long for tonight. Let’s watch
that over the weekend. How about The Guns of Navarone ?”
    “Sounds good. I’ll do the dishes if
it will give you a little more time to get your article done.”
    “Nonsense. We’re a team in this
house, and the dishes always go faster with two. Besides, if I don’t help you
put things away, I’ll never find them again.”
    I grinned. He wasn’t exaggerating – his house was a
veritable series of piles. He knew what was in each and every one of them, too. “Deal.”

 

04. SAM
    Her eyes were still
closed as