Under the Orange Moon Read Free

over her bucket, pretending not to notice his presence. As if that were possible.
    “Dylan, look who’s here,” Linda called out to her from the porch. “Aren’t you going to say hello?”
    “He’s not even out of the car yet, Mom. I’ll let you do the honors of jumping him.”
    Linda waved her hands at Dylan and rolled her eyes. She ran off the porch and wrapped her arms around Ben’s neck. He wasn’t her biological son, but she loved him enough that he could be.
    Dylan stood up and let the end of her skirt fall. She moved her long hair back from her eyes and placed her hands solidly on her tiny hips. She could easily imagine how much paint had managed to splatter on her face, arms and legs. Adamantly, she would never worry herself over washing up for Ben.
    “Hello, Ben,” she said, standing firm and allowing him to come to her.
    “Dylan.” Ben’s eyes moved up and down along her body, an unintentional movement that seemed to catch even him off guard.
    Still a pervert , she thought.
    “You look like a car salesman in that suit,” Dylan teased, ignoring her silent urges. She enjoyed making him suffer, even now.
    “Uh, yeah what’s up with that suit?” Jonah finally asked.
    Ben smoothed out his unwrinkled jacket. “Nothing. I had something I needed to take care of before I left and it happened to require a suit.
    “Well go get normal clothes on,” Jonah demanded. “You’re making me feel weird.”
    “I will, loser. I have to see my mom, anyway.”
    Ben began to walk the familiar path behind the house and into the neighbor’s yard by leaping over the concrete wall that separated it, a course that was common to them all. The trail that stretched from the Mathews’ house to the McKennas’ was pretty much etched down into the dirt, grass and Astroturf that traveled between each yard and then across the street. It was a shortcut to them as kids, but a pain for the surrounding neighbors who guarded their landscaping with their lives. On any given day of their childhood, an angry neighbor could be heard screaming from a window because one of them had blindly hopped onto one of their plants or small palm trees from the other side of the wall.
    “Careful, Mr. Raymond is still there and he still hates when you w alk on his grass,” Dylan warned.
    Ben waved at the thought. “It’s faster to go this way. I don’t want to walk all the way around the block when I can just hop a few walls. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
    Dylan watched him leave and rolled her eyes at his nonchalant personality. Even now, when he was supposed to mature with his age, Ben remained unaffected and totally obtuse to the world around him. He only cared ab out one thing in life: himself.
    “Dylan, enough with the paint already,” Linda called. “I need help with the potatoes.”
    Dylan dropped her stick robotically and jumped up on the porch. There was no point in arguing. With everyone home again, not only was the house going to be a debacle of commotion, but there was easily going to be at least fifteen pounds of potatoes to peel, as well.              
    Being the only girl for Linda, Dylan got the lovely honor of being her mother’s assistant in the kitchen. The good news was Charlie, Dylan’s second oldest brother, was getting married to Meredith in the spring. Meaning Dylan would soon have an ally of her own, someone else to peel the potatoes for once.
    “Is Ben joining us for dinner?” Linda asked, pulling down the dinner plates from her cupboards.
    “Does Jonah’s bottom drawer hold about fifty porno magazines?” Dylan replied, sticking a verbal jab at her twin brother. They never seemed to mature when they were in their mother’s home.
    “Dylan,” Linda said firmly.
    “Sorry, Mom,” Dylan said through a small sneer.
    “Ben didn’t recognize you when we pulled in, Weed ,” Jonah teased. He elbowed her as he reached over to grab a piece of green pepper from the counter.
    Dylan glared at