Narrow Paths

Chapter Nine

After a day full of Backlash 2 and phone conversations with both Jeremy and Ed, I'd had my fill of video games. It was just my luck that Darcy showed up that night in her Porche. Granted, I had been asleep, but her sharp knock on the window woke me up.

"Come on," she pleaded as I hurried out the window.

It was just a bit past one in the morning. I made a mental note to tell my dad that I'd gone out with her again. He wouldn't be pleased if I forgot to mention it, and besides, the open communication between us was pretty cool.

Darcy kept the radio down and drove slowly. I wondered if something was wrong, but decided that it wasn't. Darcy wasn't the type of girl to hold stuff like that in. She'd let me know if something was wrong.

"So, Darcy," I said in an attempt to start conversation. "Did you ever tell me what your intentions were?"

"What?" She asked, her irritation clear in her voice.

Warning bells went off in my head at her tone of voice, but it was too late for me to take back what I'd said. I braced myself for anger.

"Why'd you bomb the mailboxes?"

"Oh, that," she sounded relieved.

"What do you think I meant?"

"Well, I don't know. You've got a lot of questions."

"I'd like to know the answer, that is, if you don't mind."

She threw her head back and laughed. I smiled, glad that I'd dodged her anger.

"It was an impulse, mostly. I wanted revenge badly enough that it seemed like a good idea. I normally stick to harmless stuff, like what we're going to do tonight."

"What are we doing tonight?" I asked.

"You know those signs outside churches and gas stations with moveable letters?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going to rearrange some letters."

"Oh."

She laughed again. "You sound terribly interested."

"It sounds illegal."

"Oh, quit clinging to your daddy's coat. We won't get caught."

"If we do and we get arrested, my family life is going to be ruined," I told her, although I was sure not much would happen between my father and I.

"Understood."

The first sign was located outside a local business. I knew that we'd get caught, but I still followed Darcy toward the sign. The sign said:

SUPPORT THE CENSORING OF CRIMINAL INSIDER ADS.

Whatever the ads were about, I didn't know. Darcy began peeling off the letters and handing them to me. She then pulled a whole new set of letters out of her jacket pocket.

She then began to reattach these new letters to the sign. It took her eight whole minutes to rearrange the sign to her liking.

SPERM DONOR? APPLY INSIDE.

"Darcy!"

She laughed and rushed me back to the car. I couldn't believe what she'd made the sign say.

"Why'd you do that?"

"It's fun, isn't it? You get the next one. It's outside a salon, what should it say?"

I shook my head. Although it was one of the funniest things I'd read in a while, I didn't feel right about messing up other people's property.

"Come on, Carter, please?"