There's a Milky Way bar in my pocket – frozen solid. When the golf cart tips I tumble out of it, landing on the candy hard enough to bruise.
"Freeze!" the police say.
It is frozen, I think. But you don't understand. I only stole it because –
The golf course's grass is cold under my cheek. There are explosions in the distance above a horizon of scraggly trees – fireworks coloring the sky purple and yellow and green – making my face look even more queasy.
It's finally midnight!
I thought I'd be kissing Mike by now and instead my lips are smushed into the ground. A policewoman puts her knee on my back and handcuffs me.
"Thirty thousand dollars of illegal fireworks," she says, sounding half annoyed, half impressed. "A couple hundred for the golf cart..."
Seventy-nine cents for the candy...
She helps me stand and I squint in the glare of approaching headlights. Please don't be Mike, returning to the scene of our crime! I try to warn him telepathically: Don't come back here, it's too late! They found me! But it's only the golf course's own private security.
"She totaled that cart!" the man howls, tearing at the last tuft of hair on his bald head.
I didn't. The golf cart's on it's side, maybe grass stained, but fine. Fireworks spill off the back. The security man points a stubby finger in my face: "You've just blown up your life, young lady!"
I can't help but smile. He's startled. Above us, a firework crackles and I see its sparkling reflection in his bald head.
I have to laugh. He looks at me like I'm crazy, and maybe I am: the next explosion pulls my gaze back to the sky – the erruption is yellow-orange, bell shaped, boring – I don't even like fireworks, much...
I hear my therapist's voice in my mind: Then what do they mean, Josephina? Why did you steal so many?
YOU ARE READING
Only the Moon Watching
RomanceEighteen-year-old Josephina's first day in jail feels like a joke. Her guard's name is Garda Girdle, like she's in a detective novel; the hottest guy (and hottest bit of gossip) is named Steak; her roommate, Shiv, introduces her to the weirdest matc...
