Detained Read Online Free Page A

their family member is dead so you can get their reaction, get the scoop; make the headline.”
    “Shit.”
    “It’s unbearable. They hate you. Sometimes they’re in such a daze, you’re inside on the family sofa drinking their tea before they even realise you’re a vulture. I’ll squeegee windscreens at traffic lights before I do that again. And you?”
    He should’ve thought more about that question before he spat it out. “Hard to pick one. So many special times to choose from. A standout is putting my brother in hospital.” Those doll eyes gave nothing away, made him want to explain. “When you can’t read, the fist really is mightier than...well you get what I mean.”
    She nodded. “Why did you hit him?”
    “He was jigging school.”
    “Didn’t you say you were too?”
    She had him. “Yeah. But he was bright, a hell of a lot smarter than me. I needed him to do well in school. He didn’t appreciate the sentiment until I beat it into him.”
    “Noble of you.”
    “That’s me, noble. He went on to become a Rhodes scholar. I’d hit him again if I had to, just maybe not that hard.”
    “Geez. Tough neighbourhood.”
    One he didn’t need reminding of. “Is it my turn? Your biggest regret?”
    “I regret... Actually I don’t regret anything. Not sure there’s much point in regret. You?”
    “My brother would say I work too hard.”
    “The scholar? What do you say?”
    “One day I might regret working too hard.”
    She was staring right at him. Her journalist’s probing look. “Favourite movie? Mine is Little Miss Sunshine . I love a quirky comedy.”
    “That’s girly of you.”
    “Hey, I’m not Lois Lane twenty-four-seven.”
    “ The Departed .”
    “Yeah I can see that. All that intrigue and cop action. Favourite superhero?”
    “Spiderman.”
    “Why?”
    “What’s not to like about a guy in a leotard fighting crime?”
    “When you put it like that, but why not Batman or Superman?”
    “You really want to talk about Spiderman?”
    “I don’t really want to be detained.”
    “It’s the leotard. He had a better leotard.”
    She shook her head, not buying.
    “Batman was a rich guy and Superman was an alien.”
    She blinked at him.
    “They didn’t have Spidey sense.” Doll eyes, blink, blink, she wanted more. “Spiderman was a kid when he got his powers, he was in school. He didn’t always do the right thing. He was persecuted.” Blink, blink. “He’s a functioning neurotic.”
    Down went those eyelids, the lashes fanning out. Her cheeks went razor edge on the breadth of her smile and her laugh came from somewhere tropical and lush.
    He wasn’t sure he’d ever be cold again.

4. Strangers
    “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”— Confucius
    He’d said he was a wimp at heart. But he’d punched his way through his teen years with Spiderman as his idol. And the man from Tara, the foster kid who couldn’t read, admitted to being rich and successful. He might’ve made an interesting interview. He was a genuinely engaging detention companion. This could’ve been so much worse. And if this wasn’t a cold, dull room, and she wasn’t passing through, it could’ve been something more.
    “Is there a Mrs Man from Tara?” It felt like a useful slice of information for her awkwardly fizzing hormones to have.
    “Ah, no.”
    “Why not?”
    “Dive right in there.” He didn’t like the question but he didn’t squirm or break eye contact. “Speaks to the whole I might regret working too hard thing. You?”
    “I might regret working too hard.” She said it quickly, and watched him closely. He stacked the crockery, pushed it to the far edge of the table. He was a poker player and gave nothing away.
    “Must be my turn for a question. Are you in love?” he said.
    “I just told you.” She laughed at him. “You’re not very good at this are you? You wasted another question.” Either that or this was a bluff, a negotiating tactic.
    “Answer