Castles on the Sand

Nineteen

The next Monday, Kailie latches onto my arm after school. “Hey,” she says, “can I come to work with you today?”

“Come to the library?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

She's fidgety, which means something is on her mind.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. I'm fine. It's all good.”

But she keeps on fidgeting.

I try to think of something to say to distract her. “Did my nails yesterday,” I offer, holding out a hand.

“Very nice.” She glances, smiles, then looks away.

“Did my toenails too.”

“Cool.”

“You have to let me do yours sometime.”

“Yeah. Okay.” She is so distracted, though, that I'm not sure she even really hears me.

So I give up. We walk past Alex and the rest of his slacker friends and I wave to him. He nods back.

That gets Kailie's attention. “Um, what?”

It looks like Alex's friends feel the same way. They all look at him like he just keyed their cars. Apparently we each crossed some uncrossable social barrier.

I shrug and keep walking.

There's an email from John when I log into my computer.

Hi Madison,

Just checking in on you again. You need anything? How are things with Mom?

I love you,

John

I click open the reply box.

Hi John,

Things are okay, except yesterday we got a letter from our landlord saying we're three months behind on our rent. I don't know if we're going to get thrown out or what. I don't want to ask Mom about it because she hates talking about money stuff.

Love,

Madison

A chat window pops up.

John: Mom's got financial problems?

 

Madison: Yeah, always.

 

John: You need help? You need money?

 

Madison: Honestly? I have no idea. How long can you not pay before they throw you out? Should I be worried?

 

John: Depends on the landlord, but I think legally they could right now.