Floundering Read Free Page B

pub.
    Yeah, says Loretta, you hungry? Jordy doesn’t say anything. Are you hungry? she says to me in the rear-view.
    Yeah, I say, I want to go to the Chinese. But then I want to bite my words back into my mouth because Jordy looks at me and his face makes me feel sick.
    Yeah, she says, that’s where we’re going.
    Stepping out of the hot stink of Bert, my skin goose pimples. The night’s not cold, but it’s dark and the darkness makes it feelcold. Jordy’s still got his sunnies on, he pushes them to the top of his head. They hold his fringe back and his face looks foreign and exposed, his forehead too white. Loretta has the boot open and is rifling through a suitcase. She pulls her singlet off, leaning half into the boot. I see a sunburn-edged white cross on her back from the straps. X marks the spot. She slips a jumper over it.
    You cold? she says.
    I shake my head, looking at a red dress that’s fallen out of the suitcase and onto the dusty bumper. There’s cowboy boots in there and a paperback with its cover ripped off.
    You sure?
    I nod.
    She slams the boot shut. Come on then, she says and walks across the wide, empty street to the light. She opens the restaurant door. A bell tinkles.
    The three of us stand there for a moment. It feels weird to see them in the bright fluoros of the restaurant. Loretta and Jordy’s faces are sunburnt. We all look dirty. Loretta rakes her hands through her hair. It looks greasy and lank around her face. I don’t know what I look like, but my school shoes are dusty. I try to wipe one with the top of the other but it makes it worse.
    Good evening, a boy says. He’s in his school uniform too – and for a second I don’t feel so bad. Take a seat, he says. The restaurant is empty. He gestures to all the tables. He’s slim, with bowl-cut hair.
    Loretta sits at the big table with the lazy Susan on the top.
    I love these, she says with a smile that makes her face look different. She looks like the only picture Gran and Pa haveof her on their mantle. It’s a picture of her in a school sports uniform. She’s got a second-place ribbon pinned to her chest and her hair in the highest ponytail on her head, she’s smiling and her freckles stand out. She looks like that. We sit down. The boy brings us menus, setting them neatly in front of us. Jordy and Loretta are far away across the white paper tablecloth.
    Get whatever you want, Loretta says. Jordy looks across at me, and I refuse to look back. I’m rubbing my feet together under the table. The menu is divided into types of meat. I look at everything and try to find the cheapest thing.
    Anything? I say.
    Yeah, says Loretta, why not. I see Jordy roll his eyes at her. Loretta notices, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead she puts her hand out and spins the lazy Susan and laughs. The soy sauce bottle slides a little and I put my hand out to slow the spin.
    The boy comes back with a white pad.
    Can I get you any drinks? he says.
    You guys want a Coke? Three Cokes, she says, not waiting for our answer.
    The boy carries the wine glasses away from the table two by two. I guess he’d be Jordy’s age, the boy. A Chinese man with an apron on comes out to have a look at us. Wipes his hands on his front, then disappears.
    So what do you reckon? she says, and winks. This winking is a new thing, she never winked before.
    I dunno, I say. Is that your dad? I ask the boy.
    Yeah, he says.
    Stop being a weirdo, Jordy hisses across the table at me.
    I’m not being a weirdo.
    I want Mongolian lamb, says Jordy to the boy and closeshis menu with a snap. I look anywhere but the menu. The fairy lights on the Christmas tree in the corner choose this moment to come on. They flash slow, then too fast.
    Tom? she says. Pick a meal.
    I dunno, I say and shake my head quickly, close my menu too. Where’s the toilet?
    Out back, says the boy.
    I scrape my chair.
    Loretta screws her nose up, then smiles, We’ll have the Mongolian lamb, the lemon chicken, sweet and