Cages Read Online Free

sophisticated.” Marcia admired herself and Mr. Homer admired Marcia. No one paid any attention to Kit.
    She hated them. All of them. She hated Marcia for getting the part of Frankie and she hated Mr. Homer for spoiling his daughter rotten and she hated the clerk for fawning over them, trying to make a big sale. She hated Wayne for getting drunk and yelling at her and she hated her mother for letting him get away with it. At that moment, Kit hated the whole world.
    She took the bracelet off her wrist and held it in her hand. She thought of a line from the play: “All my life I’ve been wantin’ things that I ain’t been gettin’.” As the rage boiled up inside her, she decided not to put the bracelet back on the tray. She would keep it.
    She looked quickly over both shoulders. Except for two young women who stood one aisle over, discussing some purses that were on sale, there was no one around.
    Kit swallowed hard, and glanced again at Marcia, Mr. Homer, and the clerk. They were still ignoring her. In the distance, the piano music grew louder. This minute is passing, she thought. If I’m going to do it, it has to be now.
    Quickly, she shoved the gold bracelet in the pocket of her coat.
    She looked around again. Had anyone seen her? The two women were still discussing the purses, Marcia was still turning her head from side to side, and the clerk was agreeing with Mr. Homer that Marcia was a beautiful young woman.
    Kit stood perfectly still. Her heart raced and she could feel the blood rush to her face but nobody noticed. She might as well have been a store mannequin.
    The piano notes floated in the air. Marcia chattered on about the gold choker while the patient saleswoman adjusted the mirror one more time.
    Kit stepped slightly to her right, lifted a gold locket from its box and examined it. She put the locket back and briefly inspected a lapel pin.
    She flexed her fingers, as if to prove to anyone who might be watching that her hands were empty. Then she put her hand in her pocket and closed her fingers around the bracelet. Shecould still put the bracelet back, if she wanted to. All she had to do was take it out of her pocket and put it on the tray and no one would ever know she’d removed it in the first place.
    But she didn’t. Somehow, that gold bracelet now symbolized everything she had ever wanted and couldn’t have: a father who didn’t die, a mother who understood her, a part in the school play.
    Just this once, she thought. I’ll never steal anything again but just this once I’m going to have what I want. I will keep this bracelet. I’ll hide it in my underwear drawer and when my birthday comes, I’ll wear it to school and show it to Marcia and tell her it’s a gift from my mother. I deserve it! Why should Marcia be the only one to have gold jewelry? And Pierre’s won’t go bankrupt over one little bracelet.
    “Kit.”
    Kit jumped when Marcia spoke, as if the other girl could read her thoughts. “I’ve decided,” Marcia said. “This choker is the one I want.”
    “We’ll take it,” Mr. Homer said.
    “I’ll wear it home,” Marcia said.
    The clerk wrote up the sale and took Mr. Homer’s money before she remembered to put the other boxes of jewelry back inside the glass case.
    Kit held her breath, wondering if the woman would notice that the bracelet was missing. She didn’t. She was talking to Mr. Homer, asking if he wanted to open a charge account.
    Kit tried to act casual. “I’d better go,” she said to Marcia.
    “See you at rehearsal,” Marcia said.
    Over my dead body, Kit thought, but she forced a smile before she turned and walked away.
    As she rode up the escalator, she kept her hand in her pocket, fingering the bracelet.
    A new thought hit her. TV monitors. What if the store had secret cameras hidden and someone in a control room watched all the monitors to see if anyone was shoplifting? Panicky, she scrutinized the ceiling and the walls above each sales counter. She saw