Sliding On The Edge Read Online Free Page B

they’re having some
kind of meeting.
    Way past Kay’s barn, and on the other
side of her fence, is a small shack. It leans to one side, and its
roof buckles in the center, ready to crumble in on itself. One good
push and that place goes splat. On one side of the wobbly place
sits a square block foundation. And at one end, steps lead from a
weedy brick path up to an empty door frame. It’s the only upright
part of what looks like it used to be a house. At the back of that
falling-to-pieces property stands a tacky-looking gray barn. It
shows no signs of paint and has lots of missing boards. Three
horses line up alongside the shady barn wall—a black one, a spotted
brown and white, and a gray with a deep swayback. The black one
stands taller than the rest, but even from this far, I can see
they’re a sad-looking bunch. Their heads droop like it’s too hard
to hold them up, and their ribs show along their sides. None look
as good as Kay’s. Hers are shiny and fleshy, with long tight
muscles hugged close by their skin. Any guy would be happy to strut
around with pecs like the ones on those horses.
    Kenny walks out of Kay’s barn. He
holds his fingers to his mouth and whistles so loud I can hear him
from inside the house, even with the windows shut. A reddish-brown
horse gallops out from under the shade tree and stops in front of
the old man. The horse lowers its head. Kenny steps onto a fallen
log and in one swing sits on the horse’s bare back. Now I
understand why his legs form an arch. They’re the exact shape of a
horse. Together they shoot out of sight—Old Spit’s on the
range.
    I pull the bottle of Mom’s sleeping
pills and the ratty envelope out of the paper bag. The lamp table
has a drawer, so I stuff the pills in the back and tuck the thin
blade wrapped in toilet paper under the bottle. I sit on the edge
of the bed and take out my stack of old library cards from the
envelope. Dealing them like a poker hand, I spread them across the
quilt. This is a map of where I’ve lived: Houston, L.A, Barstow,
Bakersfield, Reno. Ah, yes, Reno. That’s where the gambling bug bit
Mom, and from then on, there wasn’t a casino she didn’t love.
That’s how we wound up in Las Vegas.
    The loud knock on the door shoots me
upright. For a minute I’m back in Vegas, ready to face Tuan with
his hand out for the rent.
    “ Shawna?” It’s
Kay.
    I wait, but when she doesn’t open the
door, I get up and let her in.
    “ Come on. Kenny says you’ll
need some pocket money when school starts, so he’ll put you on
salary.”
    “ On salary. That means work,
right?”
    “ You got it.”
    “ What kind?” I back against
the wall and put my foot on it to brace myself.
    She does one of those long
blinks that flash fed
up . “On a horse ranch we work with horses.
Does that surprise you?”
    “ I don’t work with horses.”
I want that clear, so I might as well lay it out right up
front.
    “ I see.” She leans against
the open door. “Maybe you mean that you’ve never worked with horses
before now, but since you have the opportunity, you will .”
    “ No. That’s not what I mean.
Not even close.”
    “ That’s too bad.” She folds
her arms across her chest and stares out the window.“Because on
this horse ranch, if you don’t do your chores during the day, not
only do you not get pocket money, you don’t eat,
either.”
    Now I fold my arms across my chest. “I
guess I’ll just have to call the child protective people and tell
them about this.”
    “ The phone’s in my office.”
She walks away. “Tell Marla Perdy hello for me when you get
her.”
    “ Who?”
    “ Marla Perdy. She’s in
charge of the County Welfare Agency. You know, child abuse, that
sort of thing. You explain how you got here, how I’m putting you to
work, and paying you. She’s very understanding.”
    “ Shit!”
    “ Did you say something?” Kay
looks over her shoulder at me.
    “ No .” What’s the use? I’m stuck in this happy acres