The Manager

The Manager Read Free Page B

Book: The Manager Read Free
Author: Caroline Stellings
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raging and her face red with anger. “This business about waiting until the second round to reveal he’s a lefty is crap, Sandy. It’s a gimmick. And if you don’t get Byrne to keep on the inside, he’ll never make it to a national title. Never.”
    â€œAnd how many rounds have you gone in the ring?”
    I’d hoped that Ryan Byrne would have stood up for Tina. Said something – anything. But as usual, he left my sister in the dust. I don’t know why she wanted to be bothered with him, and I wasn’t going to hang around and watch her be dismissed like that, so I headed across the road, leaving my father and Tina to duke it out, as usual.
    â€œHi, Azalea,” I muttered, closing the door behind me. She had her radio tuned to a jazz station and turned it down when I came in.
    â€œWhat’s wrong? The two of them at it again?”
    I took a cola from the refrigerator and checked my pocket for change.
    â€œIt’s on the house,” said Azalea. “That is if you’ll sit a spell and tell me what’s going on.”
    She opened two pops, and we sat down outside on the step. The skinny ash trees that grew up on each side of the store cast long shadows in the late afternoon sun, but the concrete felt warm under my legs. Cars passed by us, leaving dusty clouds that lazily drifted past.
    â€œWe could use some rain,” said Azalea, looking up at the pale blue sky like she was waiting for it to start any time.
    I realized I hadn’t answered her question.
    â€œMy father and Tina can’t agree about Ryan Byrne.”
    â€œOh, I see.” She took several sips of pop. “Well, I won’t take sides, that’s for sure, but your daddy, now he was quite a boxer himself back in the day. Must know something.”
    â€œEver see him fight?”
    â€œI sure did. Many times. I didn’t get down to the matches in Halifax, but when my boys were young, I took them to every fight around here. And this was the place to be for boxing twenty years ago. Your daddy fought at the old Venetian Gardens, before it burned down, and in New Waterford and right here in the Pier.”
    â€œThat must have been soon after he moved up from Springhill, with my mother.”
    â€œYes, I guess it was. He was working in the Glace Bay mine then, and boxing every chance he could get.” She smiled. “Oh, your father was exciting to watch. Most of his opponents couldn’t last three rounds with him. Everyone thought he’d go straight to the top, but then….” Her expression changed.
    â€œYeah, I know. He injured his hand somehow.”
    â€œShattered every bone. Never fought again.” Azalea looked across the road to the gym. Then back up at the sky. “In 1963, it was. Just after your mother—”
    â€œAfter she died?”
    â€œYes, Ellie.” She took another sip of her cola, then poured a few drops out for a tiny ant that crawled over the step beside her. “You know, you look more like her every day.”
    â€œThat’s what my father told me,” I said, and she put her arm around my back. I loved talking to Azalea, and I think she liked having me around, especially since her daughter didn’t live in Sydney.
    â€œIs Bonita coming home for the summer?” I asked. Azalea had four children, and Bonita, the only girl, was the eldest in the family. She taught school in Truro, and I was hoping to ask her about becoming a teacher myself.
    â€œShe’ll be here tomorrow. She’s going to spend a few days with me, then she’s driving down through the New England states. Wants to visit the historical sights. You know Bonita.”
    â€œAre you going with her?”
    â€œNo, Ellie,” replied Azalea. “I’d like to, but I can’t leave the store for that long of a time.” She pointed across the road at Tina who was heading our way. “Here comes your sister now.”
    Azalea went

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