Close to the Broken Hearted Read Free Page B

half a notebook,” he said. “You may have been wastin’ time in Disney World with blue and red knights, but at least I was doing somethin’ productive.”
    Nodding, I said, “Okay. Now, do you mind if we try to get all this put away and see if we can make the television work properly again ’fore my mom gets home from work?”
    Dewey glared at me. “You just don’t know genius when you see it.”
    â€œYou’re probably right. I don’t. I’ve never really been much of a noticer of brilliance.”
    He unhooked the alligator clips. I began to roll up the two hundred feet of foil.
    Just then my sister, Carry, came into the living room. She’d been out with some friends all day and I hadn’t even heard her come home. “Abe?” she asked quietly. I looked up into her blue eyes. Her blond curls swayed on either side of her face. “What the hell are you two doin’?” she asked.
    â€œPreparin’ ourselves for the future,” I said. “It’s comin’. And it’s full of aluminum foil.”
    â€œAnd other inventions!” Dewey said. “Wanna see my notebook?”
    â€œMom’s gonna kill you,” Carry said.
    â€œI know,” I said.

C HAPTER 2
    L eah Teal pulled her squad car into the driveway of the home of Sylvie Carson. She was attending because of a call Sylvie made to the station saying something about somebody illegally trespassing on her property. Leah wasn’t entirely sure of the report that was taken because she hadn’t taken it. Her partner, Officer Christopher Jackson, had. Like most times when Sylvie Carson called, Officer Jackson laughed after hanging up the phone.
    â€œGuess who that was . . . again, ” he had said.
    It bothered Leah when Sylvie was made fun of, especially when it was by Chris. She had a pretty good hunch as to why it irked her so much, too.
    â€œYou know,” she had told Chris, “it wasn’t so long ago that I can remember folks makin’ all sorts of a ruckus ’bout you bein’ hired by the department.”
    â€œYeah, well, those folks were wrong. They just like to hate people,” Chris said. “Especially black people. This is different. The woman is nuts. She calls the station every week.”
    â€œThis isn’t much different, Chris. Sylvie can’t help the way she is no more than you can help the color you is.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with the color I am?”
    â€œThat’s not what I meant and you know it.” Leah looked back at Police Chief Ethan Montgomery’s office for a little backup but his door was closed. She could see through the partially opened blinds hanging down over the window in his door that the chief was sitting back in his chair with his hands behind his head watching the television that hung from the ceiling in the corner of the room. The chief loved to watch his sports.
    Chris wouldn’t let things go. “Leah, most people get better over time. But Sylvie’s gotten worse, far as I can tell. Her calls are coming in at an all-time high.” That was likely true. Leah had at least noticed them more, and she was the one who usually ended up attending to them.
    â€œAnd every single one turns out to be some sort of false alarm,” Chris said. “I don’t know why you even bother showin’ up. I stopped takin’ her seriously a long time ago.”
    â€œBecause it’s our job to show up, Chris. Because for every hundred or so false alarms, there might actually be one real emergency and it’s for that real emergency I attend to the ninety-nine others. Besides, what else do I have to do? We live in a town of barely two thousand people; it’s not like our phone’s ringin’ off the desk.”
    â€œI’d rather do the crossword than deal with Sylvie,” he said. Leah couldn’t believe how heartless he was being. She was about to tell him