Just Plain Al: The Al Series, Book Five Read Free Page A

again. Besides, you know what they say is in hot dogs. Unspeakable ingredients. Dog’s hair, sweepings off the floor, and worse.”
    â€œWith sauerkraut,” I said. “And lots of mustard!”
    â€œOh, well.” Al was a pushover for hot dogs. “With all that stuff on it, we won’t even be able to tell it’s a hot dog, right?”
    It was one of those days that sometimes drops down at the end of summer. Just when you think fall will never come, there it is, like a present. As we headed for the hot dog wagon, I saw the man. He was one of those New York crazies. Shouting, gesticulating, he lurched through the crowd. People tucked in their elbows to make a path for him, pretending he wasn’t really there. He was harmless. No one so much as flicked an eye in his direction.
    â€œLet’s cross,” I whispered. I’m chicken. I’m always afraid guys like him might say or do something. I don’t know what I’d do if he did.
    Al had her hot dog money out, held high in her hand. It was then that I saw the woman. She was standing on the corner under the digital clock over the bank. It was 1:24. The temperature was 72 degrees. The woman’s face was so deeply red it was almost purple. She wore a filthy gray sweater and billowy pants held up by rope. Her hands were huge and swollen, the same color as her face. She held a sign that read Please Help Me.
    Al saw the woman the same instant I did. She veered toward her without missing a beat, the dollar bill waving in the wind. I knew Al was going to give the woman her money.
    The man swooped without warning. He snatched the money out of Al’s hand and took off, darting and dodging into the crowd. The Artful Dodger had nothing on him.
    â€œHey!” Al bellowed. “Catch him! Police!” Several people turned to stare, but nobody got excited. Things like that happen every day. I stayed where I was and watched Al also disappear into the crowd in pursuit.
    I wanted to leave, wanted to forget the sight of the woman standing there holding her sign, but I didn’t dare. In a strange way, I felt responsible for her. She had turned to stone and stood, eyes closed, as if she couldn’t bear another thing.
    If Al caught up with the man, what would happen? Maybe he’d turn on her, attack her. I should’ve gone with her. My feet wouldn’t move. I felt as if I’d been glued to the sidewalk.
    I shivered, the way you do when someone walks over your grave. Then, just when I was giving up, I saw Al threading her way through the throng of shoppers. Her face was scarlet, and perspiration ran down the sides of her face.
    â€œCan you believe that creep?” A mustache of sweat glistened on her upper lip. “That lousy creep took it right out of my hand.”
    The woman opened her eyes and looked straight at us. They tell you to avoid eye contact. Yet we looked into her eyes. They were dark gray or maybe blue. I couldn’t be sure. I fumbled in my pocket and came up with eighty cents, all I had. I held the money out to her. She wouldn’t look down at my hand, only in my eyes.
    Then I saw her hand creep out, cupped into a little bowl, its broken fingernails curved jaggedly over the tips of her fingers. I put the eighty cents into the little bowl. Her eyes never wavered. I was the first to look away. Maybe she was deaf and dumb, I thought. Maybe that was it. Then she said something to me, maybe thanks, maybe not. Maybe she was cursing me. I couldn’t tell.
    â€œWhat’s going on here, anyway?” Al said. “How come all these people are starving? How come all these fat cats are eating caviar and lots of people don’t even have a place to sleep when it gets cold? I don’t get it. How come things are so uneven?”
    Al shook her head despairingly. Her face was bleak.
    â€œWhat can she buy with eighty cents?” I asked. Al didn’t answer me. We walked all the way home, thirty