Alligator Park Read Online Free Page A

Alligator Park
Book: Alligator Park Read Online Free
Author: R. J. Blacks
Pages:
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Suddenly her prince no longer returns calls. She chalks
that up to his busy schedule. But after two weeks goes by and she hasn’t heard
a thing, the coed begins to imagine something might be wrong. So she expedites
her efforts to contact him. Then comes the fateful text message. Most suits
don’t have the balls, that is, the courage and dignity to end a relationship in
person. Not even a personal phone call from them. They take the coward’s way
out, a cockamamie text message that goes something like this; “My wife found
out about us and I have to end it.” That’s it, no apology, no explanation, not
even a goodbye. The truth is, he probably already has a new love and that busty
coed just isn’t exciting anymore. And so it goes.
    I push open the door; the
warm air and smell of tacos are wonderful. The place is sparse, even for a
Tuesday night when it’s slow anyway. Even the guitarist, who plays seven days a
week, is missing. The TV weather reports had been relentless about this storm,
building it up to monster status. I’m sure it scared more than a few customers
away. Logan sees me, waves. I smile, quickly join him at a table all the way in
the back. The back is where students, pulling an all-nighter, congregate. It’s
private, the coffee flows freely, and there are plenty of snacks to satisfy a
late night hunger attack.
    “I ordered this for you,” he
says, and slides an oversized lime margarita in front of me. Normally I love
lime margaritas, especially the ones at Ricky’s with a generous sprinkling of
salt crystals around the rim. But tonight?
    “Thanks, but I think I would
rather have hot chocolate,” I say.
    “You’re going to need this.”
    The anxiety I had managed to
shed during the stroll over here wells up inside me.
    “What’s wrong?” I ask.
    Logan picks up the margarita,
hands it too me.
    “Take a drink first,” he
insists.
    I expected him to tell me how
my confrontation with Dean Haas was all a misunderstanding and how he had made
everything right. I take a sip of the margarita, then another. It feels good
going down my throat, soothing it from the irritation caused by the frigid
night air. Not having eaten anything since this morning, and only a small
granola bar at that, the alcohol goes right to my head. I feel myself getting
lightheaded.
    “Well?” I say. “What happened?”
    “I spoke to Dean Haas,” he
says.
    “And?” 
    “Do you have your lab ID?” 
    “Yes.”
    “May I see it?”
    I retrieve it from my purse,
place it on the table.
    “What about the key?”
    I place that also on the
table.
    “Dean Haas revoked your lab
privileges.”
    I knew he was kidding because
without lab privileges I wouldn’t be able to complete my research.
    “That’s not funny.”
    “I’m not joking,” he says.
    “Then how will I complete my
dissertation?”
    “There won’t be a
dissertation,” he says. “She cancelled the whole project.”
    I didn’t know whether to
believe him or not. Logan liked practical jokes, even at the expense of someone
else’s dignity. It was all in fun he would always tell me. I decide this is
just another one of his misguided practical jokes.
    “Come on,” I say. “I’m not
really in the mood for jokes right now.”
    Then Logan does something
that annihilates the last vestiges of hope I was clinging to; he picks up my ID
and lab key and slips it into his pocket. I feel my heart pounding.
    “You told me all along the
dissertation was good,” I say. “I did exactly what you told me to do.”
    Logan gazes right into my
eyes.
    “Dean Haas told me something
in confidence today, something I didn’t know,” he says. “This is just between
us... okay?”
    I nod yes.
    “Remember the older man
sitting next to Dean Haas?”
    “Yes, the founder of Global
World Industries.”
    “GWI is the reason grad
students like you have research projects, they fund most of them. The old man
told Dean Haas in no uncertain terms your dissertation was contrary to
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