Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (15 page)

“What would two bums want with a pair of kid’s shoes?”

“
M
aybe they thought they’d fit.”

“Midget bums took your shoes, eh?”

“No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“They weren’t exactly midgets,
but they were short for guys, so
I just call ‘em that
.
”

Dad
’s nostrils flared. “Enough of this nonsense,” he said through clenched teeth. “Now, I’m not going to ask you again
.
Where are your shoes?”

“I-I told you, the bums took them.”

“First you forget to latch the gate
.
”
Dad
’s eyes were
narrow slits. “Then you
make up
a story about bums in the barn to cover for the fact you lost your shoes.
”

Glory
bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

“
Then there’s the matter of Queen’s Mesa
.
”

“Brandon,” she whispered under her breath. “That dirty
snitch.”

“
I’ve told you a hundred times, if not a thousand, you’re not
allowed
to go there
.
If you were
a boy
,
I’d let
my fist knock some s
ense into you. Since you’re not
,
the belt will have to do.”

“No, Dad, no, please no.
”
She tried to back away, holding up her hands as panic welled up inside her gut.

“It’s too late for that,
Glory
.
I’ll break you of your dim-witted ways
one way or another.”

“Take off your coat.”
he
ordered.
“And grab your knees.”

Glory
relunctantly
obey
e
d
, moving slowly like someone heading to the hangman’s noose.
This is gonna hurt like crazy.
Sh
e closed
her
eyes tight
ly,
bracing for what was coming
.

“One for the chickens.
”
The sound of the belt made a sharp crack as it made contact with h
er
rump
.
Pain like
a dozen
wasp stings followed
.
“Two for the shoes.
”
Glory
’s teeth
clenched.
All the muscles in h
er
body
tensed
.
Her
right knee buckled
.
“
T
hree for lying to me.
”
Dad
missed his
mark
,
catching
her
across the
back
instead.
“And four for going to the m
esa
.”

Her skin felt
like
it had been bathed in
fire.
Oh, how she hated
h
im at that moment, and didn’t want to give him
the satisfaction of tears, but
jagged breaths rack
ed
h
er
body
, betraying her effort
s
.

“Cry real nice for Daddy,” he said.

His nasty comment gave her more incentive to discipline her tear ducts. She willed them to close and washed her
emotions
with imaginary numbing cream.
I will not cry.
I will not cry.
If
only
Mom
was alive
,
things would be different
.
Life was unfair and there was little
s
he could do about it
.

“No one respects a liar,
little girl.
Being a responsible adult means you have to take responsibility for your successes and your failures.”

“If you’re
an example of wh
at it means to be a
n adult
,”
Glory
sniffled
under h
er
breath
, “I’d rather stay a
kid
.
”

“What did you say?
”

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Glory
folded h
er
arms
and
looked away, fighting back a new batch of tears.

“Are you ready to
recant that lame-brained story
about the bums?”

“I told you the truth
. A
nd I won’t take it back.
”

Shielding h
er
head,
she
waited to be struck
.
When no strike followed,
she let her arms down.

“Stubborn
as
your mother,” Dad said
,
almost as if it were a compliment
.
He
looked at the belt in his hand, then back at
h
is daughter
. Pursing his dry lips together,
Dad
stroked his graying
chin whiskers.

“Get in the house,
Glory
,” he said quietly
.
“And I expect to see you at the breakfast table.”

Glory
couldn’t believe
s
he was off hook for talking back, but h
er
skin stung fiercely and
s
he was still angry
.
So very angry.
Refusing to meet
Dad’s
gaze,
s
he stomped to the house barefoot across the cold
,
wet grass
.

H
er
feet tracked mud through the front hall, all the way to the kitchen where
Nana
stood
by the stove with
a plaid robe and hair curlers
, big
spoon in hand. All
t
h
e kids
were there finishing their meals, except
Patrice
, who was
with the Miller
kids down the lane
.

“
Gwo-wee
!
”
George
squealed, but
s
he was in no mood to be social.
She
roughly brushed past him, ignoring the hurt in his eyes
.

“Morning,
sugar pot
,”
Nanna
said
with an inquisitive narrowing of the eyes
.
“You all right?”

“Fine,” Glory said through tight lips.

“
Er, h
ow ‘bout some scrambled eggs?”

She
nodded
with a slight sniffle
.

Grandpa
was sitting in his wheelchair at the end of the table
.
In
his
opinion
,
teeth were not necessary for eating eggs, so they sat in a cup in the windowsill above the kitchen sink. His chin moved in exaggerated motion as he slopped eggs around in his mouth
.
Some days
Grandpa
was a man in a fog, barely able to comprehend what was going on around him
.
Other days he was sharp as a new ax
.
Today the fog was heavy
.

Randy and Danny were at the table, looking cocky as ever.
They hadn’t seen
her
for three months
,
but they didn’t even bother to acknowledge her existence as she took a seat across from them at the table.
Fat lot of good
opportunity
school
had done them.
Right now t
he
y were arguing with Brandon about w
hat teams would make the playoffs
.
I was st
upid to want them to come home
, Glory
told herself.

She
sat down carefully, trying to keep pressure off her stinging back. S
he took in a sharp breath when
the
fresh welts took the weight of h
er
body
.
Didn’t anyone see her suffering?  Didn’t anyone care? 

Nana
slid a glass of milk
Glory
’s way
and scooped a mound of yellow onto h
er
plate
.
She
moved the lumps of eggs with
a
for
k, not feeling much like eating
.
What she wanted to do—
needed to do
—was run up to her room, shut the door, and cry into her pillow for a couple of hours
.