Junior's Luck

Junior's Luck-Chapter 23

Kelsey stood with his back against the rough stucco exterior of the Dairy Swirl. In front of him, cars filled the dusty gravel parking lot. On the other side of the building stood the faded red and white striped awning and the peeling wooden picnic tables where the cool kids hung out.

Arlene hadn't arrived yet. Kelsey had already checked the front of the store. That's where they agreed to meet. Would she stand him up? Not Arlene. Besides, it was still early. He checked his watch for the third time. It read 6:43. He decided to buy a small cone and eat it while he waited for Arlene.

The Dairy Swirl offered three serving windows. Kelsey chose the line for the window closest to the parking lot, even though it was longer, to avoid contact with the kids who hung out under the awning. He stole a glance their way and glimpsed Carrot Walker stumbling backwards past the edge of the building. Someone probably pushed him. Carrot was always horsing around. Kelsey turned away to avoid being seen. When he looked again, Carrot was gone.

Now Kelsey regretted picking the Dairy Swirl as the place to meet Arlene, for where there was a Carrot Walker, there was sure to be a Mike Stephenson. If Stephenson saw him and tried to start a fight, it would be hard to get out of it except to run into the dark and disappear. Kelsey couldn't do that because it would finish things with Arlene if she showed up and he wasn't there.

From overhead came the occasional pop and sizzle of a bug that had flown to its death, seduced by the blue light that hung from a corner of the roof. A spark, the startling crackle, and the electrocuted insect fell into a collection pan at the bottom of the light fixture. Three random executions added to Kelsey's apprehension and distracted him so that he didn't realize it was his turn to order. He failed to respond to the girl at the window until he received a shove from the person behind him.

His transaction concluded, Kelsey licked the curlicue off the dollop of ice cream and wrestled with the overstuffed napkin dispenser. He walked between the two rows of people, intent on consuming the fast-melting confection. As he approached the end of the two lines, a hand grabbed Kelsey's arm and jerked him to the side.

Stephenson hauled Kelsey over to the picnic tables. Taken by surprise, Kelsey staggered along, unable to resist, worried that the dripping lump of ice cream might fall off the cone.

"Hey," Stephenson called to the mass of kids. "I want y'all to meet a good friend of mine." Stephenson talked in the exaggerated drawl he had used before. The onlookers responded with a flutter of laughter and some hoots. "Go on," Stephenson said, squeezing Kelsey's biceps, making it throb with pain. "Tell these fine folks your name."

Stephenson reminded Kelsey of a ventriloquist asking questions of a wooden dummy. Kelsey wasn't about to help Mike Stephenson make a dummy out of him. He kept his mouth shut.

Melted ice cream dribbled down Kelsey's hand, and he licked around the edge of the cone.

"Hey!" Stephenson boomed. "You're not being very hospitable here. Don't you know it's not polite to eat in front of people?"

Stephenson clamped a hand on Kelsey's wrist, squeezing it like a vise, forcing Kelsey's fingers to loosen their grip. Stephenson plucked the ice cream cone from Kelsey's grasp.

"Here you go," he hollered and flung it at one of the tables, scattering the kids who sat there. The cone landed with a splat.

"Teach that commie wimp a lesson, Mike," Carrot Walker called out.

"Yeah, Mike, make the nerd show a little respect," a boy shouted.

A wicked smile appeared on Stephenson's face. He jerked Kelsey off balance and swung him by the wrist, letting go after a half revolution, sending him reeling backwards into a metal post that supported the awning.