argument would deter her. I
envisioned her showing up at the house anyway and insisting I tag along in
front of my dad, who would immediately tack himself onto her campaign and shove
me out the door.
I hesitated for a moment,
and then decided I could always cancel at the last minute if I felt too weird.
“All right, I’ll tag along.”
Becky clapped her hands
together, which made me laugh as she said, “Yay! You won’t regret it, I
promise. We always have a great time.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Girl, we’re going to have
so much fun that you’ll never want to go back to that lonely old city again!”
On top of my reservations
about leaving my father alone, Becky’s promise to make Sonesville appealing
should have scared the hell out of me, and maybe it did just a little bit. I
knew though that my job was my life. It had been that way for over three years.
It would only be a matter of time before the journalist within started to draw
me back to the action of the city.
Chapter Nine
It was just going on three
o’clock when I finally left Becky’s house and headed for home. I don’t know why
I was so shocked by the good time we had getting to know each other again, and
while I was skeptical when she first invited me out with her friends Tuesday
night, I knew it was going to be a great time. I hadn’t laughed or enjoyed
myself that openly since college, and even then it had been the moment more
than the company I’d kept.
From inside my purse I heard
the chirp of my phone, and I reached in to bring it out. I was just nearing the Sonesville Standard building, and so
I slowed down and pulled up alongside the curb. The screen didn’t reveal the
phone number, but I flipped it open anyway and lifted it to my ear. “Janice
McCarty?”
I waited for a response as
static crackled through the speaker. Rolling my eyes, I repeated my hello and
glanced up at the opposite end of the marquis in front of the old building. It
once read the same on both sides, but someone clever had gotten to the other
side. They even brought in letters from another sign that were smaller than the
originals. The end result read: LOOC INTO UR SOLE, and the mediocre spelling
made me roll my eyes.
“Hello? Look, the static is
making it impossible to hear you, I’m hanging up.” I snapped the phone shut and
leaned back to stare at the sign for a moment. I was surprised when I felt the
same numbing dizziness that knocked me for a loop at my mother’s funeral start
to creep across the top of my skull. I blinked a few times to try and shake it
off, but it only increased until the letters on the sign seemed to dance around
on the marquis in front of me.
My face started to tingle,
and I was glad that I already pulled over before the strange sensation started
to overtake me. The last thing I needed was to faint again, especially while I
was driving. Reaching up to touch my face, I pressed fingertips into my temples
and willed myself to stay focused as I dropped my head back against the
headrest and closed my eyes.
Maybe I was coming down with
something, or maybe it was an allergy of some kind, I reasoned. I clenched my
back teeth tightly together and ignored the feeling of being watched as a car
passed by on the street. It was worse than fainting, I realized, because it
just felt like I was going to, but nothing else seemed to happen. It was like
all my senses spun on some strange axis inside of me, out of control until I
felt like I was going to be sick. Blinking my eyes opened, I glanced sidelong
as another curious passerby strained their neck to see who pulled over in front
of the Standard building
I won’t lie. There was a
huge part of me that wanted to start them all talking with a flip of the bird.
In the city, I could have died in my car and not a single person would have
dared to bother me. In Sonesville, it was like some chivalric code was embedded
into the DNA of every citizen that prompted them all to stop and
envisioned her showing up at the house anyway and insisting I tag along in
front of my dad, who would immediately tack himself onto her campaign and shove
me out the door.
I hesitated for a moment,
and then decided I could always cancel at the last minute if I felt too weird.
“All right, I’ll tag along.”
Becky clapped her hands
together, which made me laugh as she said, “Yay! You won’t regret it, I
promise. We always have a great time.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Girl, we’re going to have
so much fun that you’ll never want to go back to that lonely old city again!”
On top of my reservations
about leaving my father alone, Becky’s promise to make Sonesville appealing
should have scared the hell out of me, and maybe it did just a little bit. I
knew though that my job was my life. It had been that way for over three years.
It would only be a matter of time before the journalist within started to draw
me back to the action of the city.
Chapter Nine
It was just going on three
o’clock when I finally left Becky’s house and headed for home. I don’t know why
I was so shocked by the good time we had getting to know each other again, and
while I was skeptical when she first invited me out with her friends Tuesday
night, I knew it was going to be a great time. I hadn’t laughed or enjoyed
myself that openly since college, and even then it had been the moment more
than the company I’d kept.
From inside my purse I heard
the chirp of my phone, and I reached in to bring it out. I was just nearing the Sonesville Standard building, and so
I slowed down and pulled up alongside the curb. The screen didn’t reveal the
phone number, but I flipped it open anyway and lifted it to my ear. “Janice
McCarty?”
I waited for a response as
static crackled through the speaker. Rolling my eyes, I repeated my hello and
glanced up at the opposite end of the marquis in front of the old building. It
once read the same on both sides, but someone clever had gotten to the other
side. They even brought in letters from another sign that were smaller than the
originals. The end result read: LOOC INTO UR SOLE, and the mediocre spelling
made me roll my eyes.
“Hello? Look, the static is
making it impossible to hear you, I’m hanging up.” I snapped the phone shut and
leaned back to stare at the sign for a moment. I was surprised when I felt the
same numbing dizziness that knocked me for a loop at my mother’s funeral start
to creep across the top of my skull. I blinked a few times to try and shake it
off, but it only increased until the letters on the sign seemed to dance around
on the marquis in front of me.
My face started to tingle,
and I was glad that I already pulled over before the strange sensation started
to overtake me. The last thing I needed was to faint again, especially while I
was driving. Reaching up to touch my face, I pressed fingertips into my temples
and willed myself to stay focused as I dropped my head back against the
headrest and closed my eyes.
Maybe I was coming down with
something, or maybe it was an allergy of some kind, I reasoned. I clenched my
back teeth tightly together and ignored the feeling of being watched as a car
passed by on the street. It was worse than fainting, I realized, because it
just felt like I was going to, but nothing else seemed to happen. It was like
all my senses spun on some strange axis inside of me, out of control until I
felt like I was going to be sick. Blinking my eyes opened, I glanced sidelong
as another curious passerby strained their neck to see who pulled over in front
of the Standard building
I won’t lie. There was a
huge part of me that wanted to start them all talking with a flip of the bird.
In the city, I could have died in my car and not a single person would have
dared to bother me. In Sonesville, it was like some chivalric code was embedded
into the DNA of every citizen that prompted them all to stop and
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