The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

then walk right out again. Nothing furtive and no hesitations. The place was always busy. There was nothing to it. And nobody had any use for Mr. Holly, the old guy who ran the place, so there wasn’t any guilt involved.
    But Meg just frowned. “I don’t steal,” she said.
    Well jeez, I thought, meet Miss Priss.
    I felt a little contempt for her. Everybody stole. It was part of being a kid.
    “Just loan me the money, will you?” she said. “I’ll pay you back. I promise.”
    I couldn’t stay mad at her.
    “Okay. Sure,” I said. I dumped it into her hand. “But what do you want a sandwich for? Make one at Ruth’s.”
    “I can’t.”
    “How come?”
    “I’m not supposed to.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m not supposed to eat yet.”
    We crossed the street. I looked left and right and then I looked at her. She had that masked look. Like there was something she wasn’t telling. Plus she was blushing.
    “I don’t get it.”
    Kenny and Eddie and Lou Marino were already on the diamond tossing a ball around. Denise was standing behind the backstop watching them. But nobody saw us yet. I could tell Meg wanted to go but I just stared at her.
    “Ruth says I’m fat,” she said finally.
    I laughed.
    “Well?” she said.
    “Well what?”
    “Am I?”
    “What? Fat?” I knew she was serious but I still had to laugh. “’Course not. She’s kidding you.”
    She turned abruptly. “Some joke,” she said. “You just try going without dinner and breakfast and lunch for a day.”
    Then she stopped and turned back to me. “Thanks,” she said.
    And then she walked away.

Chapter Nineteen

    The ball game dissolved about an hour after it started. By that time most of the kids on the block were there, not just Kenny and Eddie and Denise and Lou Morino but Willie, Donny, Tony Morino and even Glen Knott and Harry Gray, who showed up because Lou was playing. With the older kids there it was a good fast game—until Eddie hit his hard line drive down the third-base line and started running.
    Everybody but Eddie knew it was foul. But there was no telling Eddie that. He rounded the bases while Kenny went to chase the ball. And then there was the usual argument. Fuck you and fuck you and no, fuck you.
    The only difference was that this time Eddie picked up his bat and went after Lou Morino.
    Lou was bigger and older than Eddie but Eddie had the bat, and the upshot was that rather than risk a broken nose or a concussion, he stalked off the field in one direction taking Harry and Glen along with him while Eddie stalked off the other way.
    The rest of us played catch.
    That was what we were doing when Meg came by again.
    She dropped some change into my hand and I put it in my pocket.
    “I owe you eighty-five cents,” she said.
    “Okay.”
    I noticed that her hair was just a little oily, like she hadn’t washed it that morning. She still looked nice though.
    “Want to do something?” she said.
    “What?”
    I looked around. I guess I was afraid the others would hear.
    “I don’t know. Go down by the brook?”
    Donny threw me the ball. I pegged it at Willie. As usual he slumped after it too slowly and missed.
    “Never mind,” said Meg. “You’re too busy.”
    She was irritated or hurt or something. She started to walk away.
    “No. Hey. Wait.”
    I couldn’t ask her to play. It was hardball and she had no glove.
    “Okay, sure. We’ll go down to the brook. Hang on a minute.”
    There was only one way to do this gracefully. I had to ask the others.
    “Hey guys! Want to go down to the brook? Catch some crayfish or something? It’s hot here.”
    Actually the brook didn’t sound bad to me. It was hot.
    “Sure. I’ll go,” said Donny. Willie shrugged and nodded.
    “Me too,” said Denise.
    Great, I thought. Denise. Now all we need is Woofer.
    “I’m gonna go get some lunch,” said Kenny. “Maybe I’ll meet you down there.”
    “Okay.”
    Tony vacillated and then decided he was hungry too. So that left just us