Read Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) Online
Authors: C.DEANNA VERHOFF
“You’ll do no such thing, young lady
.
You’re not to leave this house for the next three months except by school bus or with me as chaperone
.
I thought I made myself perfectly clear.”
Patrice
looked to the ground.
“My noggin’s fine,”
Glory
said, but nobody was listening
.
Morning broke. In silent vigil,
Glory
watched the rise and fall of Brandon’s che
st. Isn’t he ever gonna wake up
?
Glory
wondered
.
Unable to wait a minute longer,
s
he grabbed his shoulder and
shook vigorously.
“Brandon, Brandon, do ya believe me now?”
Brandon pulled the blanket over his ears and flipped his back toward
Glory
.
“Leave me alone.”
Le
an
ing
over the bed,
she pleaded
, “Please, tell me ya remember.”
“Remember what?” Brandon yawned.
“You know, the
wrinkly guys in the fancy suits
, they were here last night, in this very room.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“C’mon, don’t do this to me
.
You opened your eyes and looked right at them
.
Then ya hollered
.
Then they hollered. It was a big ol’ holler-fest.
”
“Get away from me, you lunatic.”
“But
ya gotta remember something.”
“Scram or I’ll pound ya.”
Glory
gave a frustrated grunt
.
“Can’t count on you for nothing
.
”
S
he kicked the bedpost
.
“Yowch, stupid foot.
”
She
went downstairs.
Dad
was at the table sipping a cup of coffee
.
“Am I going to the doctor or what?”
she
snapped.
Dad
set down his coffee cup
.
“Depends. How
are
you feeling?”
“Tired
.
But not sick or anything.”
“And your head?”
Glory
knocked on h
er
temple
.
“Solid as a rock.”
“Let me have a look,”
Dad
ordered. “Turn around.”
Instead of checking out
Glory
’s
head, he raised the back of h
er
shirt
.
She pulled it back down
.
“Don’t do that.”
“I only want to see your back.”
Reluctantly
, she let him look
.
His
calloused fingers linger
ed
near h
er
shoulder blades, where the belt had left
two
wicked welt
s
.
“Ow,”
Glory
flinched when
Dad
applied pressure.
He
sucked in a deep breath and pulled
away.
“If I take you to the doctor they’ll probably want to check more than your head.
”
Glory
knew what that meant
.
The doctor would see the
whip marks.
“No headaches?”
Dad
asked
.
“No spots in your eyes
?
No nausea?”
“Nope.”
Quiet followed
.
After a minute,
Dad
said, “We’ll hold off on the doctor
.
Get ready for school. And don’t go flapping your jaw about bums coming through the walls
.
Have I made myself clear?”
Glory
nodded,
but was
chafed
at
Dad’s
selfishness
.
What if
s
he truly needed medical attention
—
would
Dad
just let h
er
suffer
in order to avoid uncomfortable questions
?
Glory
’s
stomach
rumbled
.
“Is
Nana
up yet?”
s
he asked
optimistically.
“Still sleeping.”
Dad
buried his head in the newspaper.
Dang it
.
Glory
loved it when
Nana
made big breakfasts, but
no such luck this morning.
She found
a leftover dinner roll
.
The fridge was full of condiments, but not much else
.
At least there was plenty of butter, which was difficult to spread without annihilating the roll
.
S
he cut four pats of butter and placed them on her roll like
ceramic
tiles.
“
Save some for the rest of the family
,”
Dad
complained
.
“You really need to lay off the rolls and butter,
Glory
.”
She
let h
er
father’s comment hang in the air, listen
ing
to
Randy
upstairs
banging on the bathroom door, yelling at
Patrice
to hurry up.
“
Rush hour has begun,”
Dad
said from behind the paper.
Glory
looked
toward the ceiling
,
glad not to be a part of the
chaos
.
Her older siblings thought they were
too cool for
the bus, so
they
managed to
find
rides
with
schoolmates
.
This
allowed h
er
to stay ahead of the
morning
bathroom fights
by a nose
.
“
Later
,
Dad
,
”
s
he said.
“Behave yourself,”
Dad
replied.
Glory
slung h
er
schoolbag over a shoulder and took an extra roll
for the road
.
The morning air smelled of snow
.
As
s
he waited at the end of the lane
,
the last bum’s words rang through h
er
mind
;
We’ll be back,
t
hief.
Glory
felt ill thinking about it
.
She
must prepare, but
how
?
Mrs. Spud was prompt as usual
.
She opened the
bus
doors and said good morning
.
Glory mumbled hello, avoiding
eye contact with
other passengers. She
squeezed down the aisle as the bus began to accelerate
, ignoring the w
hispers and rude snickers
.
She
plopp
ed
down in the seat next to
Clash
who was sucking on candy. The scent of hot cinnamon wafted on h
is
breath
.
“Got your Sliver?”
Glory
inquired.
“Yep.
”
H
e
took
it
out of h
is
bag and
flipped it opened.
“Wanna play
Space Raiders
?”
“Nah
.
Can you spare a couple of data center minutes?
”
“
Well
…
”