Vanished Read Free

and a white tee under his Celtics
shirt. Better to be a dork than show off his chicken chest and
stringy arms.
    "`Sup?" he said, trying to sound smooth. No manual existed
for street slang. Either you knew it or you were a loser. Ben had no illusions about which category he fit. Was it possible jasmine
had seen past the glasses and scrawny build? Could she actually
like him?

    She slipped her knapsack onto his left shoulder. "Nice day
for a picnic."
    "So we really are having a picnic?" He had assumed she was
kidding, that she needed his help on legal stuff. Her mother
didn't speak a word of English and depended on jasmine to
decipher the Section 8 and MassHealth paperwork. Jasmineand a whole bunch of other kids-depended on him to navigate
them through the tricky waters of government services.
    His mother called it his ministry, but Ben knew it for what
it really was. A way to buy safety and acceptance on the mean
streets of the Flats.
    Jasmine smiled, crinkling her eyes at the corners. "Of course
it's a picnic. You and me. You're the man, so you get to carry
the knapsack."
    Yes, I finally am the man, Ben wanted to bellow. "Where
are we going?"
    "The Circle."
    From the outside, the Circle looked beautiful. The bushes
formed a natural canopy, hiding the chain link and razor wire
protecting the cement blockhouse with its access stairwell to
the tunnels far below. During the day, only squirrels or the
Quanta engineers went into those bushes. At night, the junkies
and prostitutes took over the area. Not Ben's first choice as a
picnic grove.
    "We should go over to Hubbard Park."
    "Too far."
    "It's only a half mile past the Circle. We could sit in the
grass next to the water. Stick our toes in." The image of her
bare feet in the water made it hard for him to breathe. What
a total dork he was.

    Jasmine pulled away. "Did I say I wanted to go to Hubbard?
I told you, I need to go to the Circle."
    "Need to?"
    She snuggled back against him. "Need to because I want to. I
go up there all the time."
    He stiffened. "With whom?"
    "Why do you do that?"
    "What?"
    Jasmine wrinkled her nose. "Say whom instead of who."
    "It's proper English," Ben said.
    "It marks you. You live in the Flats like the rest of us, but up
here..." She danced her fingers across his forehead. "Up here
you live in Geeksville."
    "Where else would I live?" he asked, annoyed. "I am a
geek."
    "But you're my geek. And I'll prove it to you once we get
to the Circle."
    "What's in the knapsack, Jazz?"
    "Stuff for the picnic, Benjie." She insisted on calling him
that, even though his name was Benedict, not Benjamin. But
that movie dog is so cute, she'd say, and ruffle his hair.
    He wasn't feeling so cute right about now. A queasy dread
replaced the heat in Ben's belly. "Stuff? Like what, exactly?"
    "Um ... OK. Peanut butter and jelly. That's what."
    Ben slipped the knapsack off his shoulder and fumbled for
the zipper. "I'm hungry. Maybe I'll have some right now."
    Jasmine lifted the pack back onto his shoulders and slipped
her arm between the straps and his chest, effectively locking the
pack in place. "Chill, baby. We'll dig in up at the Circle."
    A kid whizzed by on a bike and hooted at them, "Get a
room, suckers."
    Other than that, the bike path was silent. The trees planted
on either side were still too new to cast much shade. Even so,
this was a place where a guy could disconnect from the Flats for a mile or so. Pretend that the paved path would take him
to a still place where the breezes ran cool. A quiet place where
pretty girls didn't lug drugs and pretend they were peanut
butter and jelly.

    "You're using me as your mule," Ben whispered.
    "You watch too much TV." Jasmine tossed her head, her
hair catching sunlight. The dimple where her collarbones met
looked impossibly soft.
    "Answer me. Are there drugs in here?"
    Jasmine sighed dramatically. "Look, man. This is no big deal.
Some dude is paying me a couple hundred to drop the