His Name Is Ron Read Online Free Page A

questions in his rapid-fire, enthusiastic style: What rides did they enjoy? Were there any new attractions? Did they pig out on junk food? Any cute boys? But Michael did not seem to want to talk at all. From what Lauren could see of his face, he appearedblank, almost stunned, and a strange, foreboding feeling came over her. She shivered involuntarily.
    Rob had the radio on. During the short drive home, an announcer began to report: “Nicole Brown Simpson and—” Rob reached over and snapped off the radio.
    When they reached Jamie and Julie’s house, their mother, Sherri, was standing outside in the driveway. Her face was ghostly pale. She was usually very friendly and talkative, but this afternoon she ushered Jamie and Julie inside without a word.
    Rob drove Michael and Lauren the short half-block home.
    As they rounded the corner, Lauren saw her mom and some of our friends outside of our house. Cars filled the driveway and lined both sides of the street. When they got out of the van, Barb put her arms around Michael. Patti approached Lauren and asked, “How was your day?”
    â€œFine,” Lauren answered, but she wondered what was going on.
    â€œWas it really good?” Patti asked as big tears started to well up in her eyes.
    â€œIt was okay,” Lauren said, “what’s going on?”
    Patti wrapped her arms around her daughter as warmly and securely as possible. The words seemed to lodge in her throat as she whispered, “Good. Because—Ron—was—Ron—was—murdered.”
    Lauren yelled, “No! No!” Her head spun and she lost her balance, falling to the ground. She thought: I’m not hearing this. It can’t possibly be my Ronnie. There has to be some big mistake. A piercing, intensely painful shriek emerged from her throat. Lauren thought that if she just screamed loudly enough, someone would tell her that she was having a nightmare and she would wake up. Then everything would be okay.
    Lauren’s scream was so shrill and filled with such excruciating pain that Michael had to flee into the house. Never in his life had he heard such a mixture of anguish, disbelief, and horror come out of someone. It resounded in his ears as he bounded up the steps and headed for his room.
    His best friend, Alexa, and Rob and Barb’s daughter, Melanie, were waiting for him. Alexa put her arms around him and told him that everything would be okay. “If you need to talk, I’m here for you,” she said.
    Still in the driveway, standing between two parked cars, Patti kept trying to embrace her daughter. But Lauren pushed her away and ran into the house. She found me sitting alone at the bottom of the staircase. I wrapped my arms around her waist and gently pulled her onto my lap. I rocked her back and forth, and told her that everything would be okay. Butall she could do was cry, and say the words “No, no, no” over and over again. Through my own tears, I told her that I loved her—and so did Ron.
    Lauren wanted to be alone. She squirmed from my grasp and ran upstairs to her room. Even though it was still warm outside, she felt icy cold and could not stop shivering, so she put on a sweat suit.
    Her friends Jamie, Julie, and Lindsay came upstairs to be with her. One of them asked, “Oh my God, are you okay?”
    Lauren did not know how to respond. Did she want to be alone? Did she want her friends around? Did she want to be in her room? Did she want to walk about the house? Was she okay? No. How could she be?
    The girls came downstairs and mingled briefly with our friends and neighbors. Many were in the family room, camped in front of the television, and Lauren kept hearing the name of a man, the one who had been married to the woman who was murdered alongside Ron. She had never heard of him before.
    Finally she drew her friends back up to her room. She had decided that she did not want to watch TV. She said, “I don’t want