Fireworks in the Rain Read Online Free Page A

and sabotaging the foreclosures, and going so far you get fired. You’re in a position to do that. And not only that, but you’d enjoy the game.”
    He stared at me.
    I smiled. I was facing him now, and I reached out and, once more, lightly touched his temple with a finger. “You’ve been thinking about it anyway. You might not have been aware of it, but somewhere inside you’ve been thinking how much fun it would be to gum up the works, just a little.”
    Yeah, just a little.
    That’s where I left him. He was thinking about it, but I knew it had worked.
    Two weeks later, Ren was back.
    She was curled up in my arms, her hand on my chest, and I was enjoying her touch and the way the sweat was drying on me. Susi scratched at the door.
    “What the other Washington did was big,” I said. “But some people, like me and Peter, are just cut out for little things.”
    “Unlike Oskar,” she said.
    I nodded, and her head bounced a bit on my chest. “Oskar wants to see the whole banking structure come tumbling down and the wealth divided. But Pete and I don’t work on that scale.”
    “I don’t either,” she said.
    “I know.”
    “There are, like, nine homes on this block about to be foreclosed on. You gave some of them more time, and maybe now they won’t be. I think that’s a win.”
    “Yeah.” I pulled her closer. “I’m not saying it’s good. I’m saying it’s better than nothing.”
    “It’s better,” she agreed. “What did you do after you left him?”
    “About what you’d expect,” I said. “Found myself a decent beer, missed you a lot, and watched the fireworks in the rain.”

    Copyright (C) 2013 by Steven Brust
    Art copyright (C) 2013 by Wesley Allsbrook