Broken Tears 19

Broken Tears 19

Amanda walked to her mother’s car and threw her purse on the seat beside it. She sat there for a minute as she was waiting to back out, imagining her mother’s face as the car wouldn’t start, and she would be home free with the look of pure innocence on her face. She hurried to the library where she would recheck her book for her history report. As it happened, she had called Patty and mentioned that she was going to the library for a few minutes. Patty was waiting outside on one of the nice benches near the book return slot.

“Hey, what took you so long?” asked Patty as she stood up.

“Not much. Just had a very important meeting with you know who about you know what.” she replied as she gave a big smile.

“Is he going to do it?”

“Yea. He’s like child’s clay in my hands.” Amanda bragged as she reached into her purse. As she moved the items in her purse to locate her cell phone, a look of confusion appeared on her face. “Wait a minute. I…” she paused and then a look of anger suddenly appeared on her face. “That no good thief!”

“What?” asked Patty as she looked at her friend’s face to try to understand what was going on. “Am I missing something?”

“You aren’t, but I am!” Amanda threw her books on the ground. As she did two people who were walking by, hurried to get into the library. A tall slender young black girl grabbed her boyfriend’s arm and pulled him along to move faster.

“In the place where DD and I met, another boy walked by and bumped into the table knocking my purse to the floor.” She paused to see if Patty followed her story. “He tried to pick up my things to put them back into my purse.” She paused again as she picked up her books that were on the ground. “I told him to get away but obviously not fast enough. I think he stole my cell phone.”

“And he must have been there to help DD get the phone because of the picture on it.” finished Patty.

“Yes. And now there is no way to get DD to do the ‘favor’ that I need.” she continued in an angry voice.

“Not exactly.” said Patty with a smile on her face. She looked around to see if anyone was near. “I sent a copy of that picture to my cell phone. So I think that we may have a solution. Lets get our books checked out.” Amanda smiled and turned to walk into the library with a friend who had just been made hero of the day.

Danny’s friend, Tito, hurried to get into his red car. He knew that if the police questioned him, they might look up the fact that he had several speeding tickets that he had not paid yet and one DWI prosecution. He did not like the police and he felt that the feeling was mutual. He got into his car and drove directly to the nearest exit. As he did so, he hit a pot hole. He didn’t care about what happened to the car because he been using it while his older brother was in jail for a robbery. His brother, Renzo, made some good choices that got him a job and the car, and then some really bad choices. The last really bad choice was the one that landed him into jail for one year. Renzo’s loss was Tito’s gain and he made full use of a neat set of wheels.

Tito drove quickly to a house where the family had recently moved out. Fortunately for him, there was no lock on the garage’s door. And inside the garage, he kept a few things that he had obtained discretely as well as some refreshments for times that he felt thirsty. He pulled into the driveway and waited to see if the police were actually following him. He thought that since he was there, he might as well reward himself with something to drink. As he was getting out of the car, he noticed that the neighbor was in his backyard getting ready to do yard work and then mow. He did not want to attract attention to his secret site so he got into his car, backed out and drove quietly down the street to go home. This night he would have to go home, eat his mother’s lousy cooking and maybe, just maybe do some of that mind-numbing homework.
The neighbor, Mr. MacAlister noticed the car pulling out of the drive way and made a note of the license plate numbers and time that the car was in the driveway. He thought that he had heard noises from the driveway before and could not move fast enough to see what was going on from his widow that faced the driveway. He would add this information to what he had been saving. He regretted losing such nice neighbors, but when the owner lost his job and his wife became ill, they had to make a choice on what was important to pay first. His wife of forty years was an easy winner in the situation. They moved and left no forwarding address as of yet. The only thing his neighbor said is that he would keep the MacAlister’s informed soon.

Tito arrived home to the sound of crying in his house. His mother and father had some world famous arguments. Sometimes he would put some earplugs and start the music from his I pod so loud that he could not hear the back and forth screams and noises that made it sound like world war three had started. He lost count as to how many times the police were called to come by and try to see if anyone was hurt. Once or twice his mother had some bruises, but she always said that she would not file a complaint. His father had run out of the house when he heard the knock on the door and returned later with the smell of the alcohol that would make anyone sick. Tito promised himself that he would eventually follow his brother Renzo out of the house and never return.