Lost Boys Read Free

stinking clothes. “Officer, I think if you had these in your car for about thirty seconds you’d pull off the road, too.”
    The cop looked at her, surprised, and then grinned. “Ma’am, I guess you got a point. Just hurry it up. It’s not safe to be stopped here. People come down this road too fast sometimes, and they take this curve wide.”
    â€œThanks for your concern, Officer,” said Step.
    The patrolman narrowed his eyes. “Just doing my job,” he said, rather nastily, and walked back to his car.
    Step turned to DeAnne. “What did I say?”
    â€œGet me a Ziploc bag out of there, please,” she said. “If I have to smell these any longer I’m going to faint.”
    He handed her the plastic bag and she stuffed the messy clothes into it. “All I said to him was ‘Thanks for your concern,’ and he acted like I told him his mother had never been married.”
    She leaned close to him and said softly, affectionately, “Step, when you say ‘Thank you for your concern’ it always sounds like you’re just accidently leaving off the word butthead. ”
    â€œI wasn’t being sarcastic,” said Step. “Everybody always thinks I’m being sarcastic when I’m not.”
    â€œI wouldn’t know,” said DeAnne. “I’ve never been there when you weren’t being sarcastic.”
    â€œYou think you know too much, Fish Lady.”
    â€œYou don’t know anywhere near enough, Junk Man.”
    He kissed her. “Give me a minute and I’ll be ready to put our Betsy Wetsy doll back in her place.”
    He heard her muttering as she went back to her door: “Her name is Elizabeth.” He grinned.
    Step got back to wiping down Betsy’s seat.
    â€œI didn’t even hear that cop come up,” said Stevie.
    â€œCop?” asked Robbie.
    â€œGo back to sleep, Road Bug,” said Step.
    â€œDid we get a ticket, Daddy?” asked Robbie.
    â€œHe just wanted to make sure we were all right,” said Step.
    â€œHe wanted us to move our butts out of here,” said Stevie.
    â€œStep!” said DeAnne.
    â€œIt was Stevie who said it, not me,” said Step.
    â€œHe wouldn’t talk that way if he didn’t learn it from you,” said DeAnne.
    â€œIs he still there?” asked Step.
    Stevie half-stood in order to see over the junk on the back deck. “Yep,” he said.
    â€œI didn’t hear him either,” said Step. “I just turned around and there he was.”
    â€œWhat if it wasn’t a cop and you just turned around and it was a bad guy?” asked Stevie.
    â€œHe gets his morbid imagination from you,” said DeAnne.
    â€œNobody would do anything to us out on the open highway like this where anybody passing by could see.”
    â€œIt’s dark,” said Stevie. “People drive by so fast.”
    â€œWell, nothing happened,” said DeAnne, rather testily. “I don’t like talking about things like that.”
    â€œIf it was a bad guy Daddy would’ve popped him one in the nose!” said Robbie.
    â€œYeah, right,” said Step.
    â€œDaddy wouldn’t let anything bad happen,” said Robbie.
    â€œThat’s right,” said DeAnne. “Neither would Mommy.”
    â€œThe seat’s clean,” said Step. “And the belt’s as clean as it’s going to get in this lifetime.”
    â€œI’ll bring her around.”
    â€œClimb over!” cried Betsy merrily, and before DeAnne could grab her, she had clambered through the gap between the bucket seats. She buckled her own seat belt, looked up at Step, and grinned.
    â€œWell done, my little Wetsy doll.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead, then closed the door and got back in to the driver’s seat. The cop was still behind them, which made him paranoid about making sure he didn’t do anything wrong. He signaled. He