Stacy Matthews - Dear Mary 01 - Think Twice Before You Order Read Online Free Page B

through ninth streets. Ninth Street was a dirt road, and the only
road that went all the way down to the river.
    Back then none of the railroad crossings had the warning arms
that come down when a train is coming through. We didn’t get those until much
later. The trains used to go through town a lot slower than they do now.
    The hobos would jump off the train at the Ninth Street
crossing and walk down to the river, which is about a mile south of the tracks.
All of the kids were told to stay away from that crossing. That was okay by us;
we liked the Fifth Street crossing better. During the summer, the trees on both
sides of the track bent over and gave the impression of a tunnel made out of
trees. It also had a creek and a rope swing. We would ride our bikes down there
and play for hours, catching tadpoles and making forts. We wanted to camp out
down there and have a campfire, but all of the parents said no. What are you
going to do?
    When I was twelve or thirteen the city closed the crossing at
Fifth Street because there had been too many people that thought if they drove
fast enough they could beat the train to the crossing. The only thing they
managed to do was get themselves killed. When they
closed that crossing they also put in the warning arms at the other two
crossings.
    The main part of town is still pretty much the same. I
remember when we got THE stoplight. Now THAT was a big deal.
    I thought I should come back to the house in case Charlie
called, and it’s a good thing I did. He called just as I was walking in the
door. He said he had checked his messages and couldn’t believe I was in town. I
told him about the pictures I had found, and the conversation I had with Mrs.
Ruby. He said I shouldn’t listen to Mrs. Ruby because she makes up most of what
she tells people. According to Charlie she has her refreshments on a more
regular basis now.
    I asked him if he knew anything about Grandpa’s new
girlfriend. He said he did but would rather tell me about her in person. I
asked if he would at least tell me her name. He said it was Tatiana. I also
asked how long they had been living together, and why am I only hearing about
her now? He told me he would answer everything when he got back, which should
be in a couple of hours. He hadn’t planned on coming back until morning but
thought it would be best if he came over now and explained. He did not want me
getting bad information because he remembered my tendency to
overreact.             
    One time my friend Debbie fell out
of the tree and I ran to Charlie’s house and told him she was dead. Turns out
she just had the wind knocked out of her. Maybe that was a little overreaction
but he wasn’t giving me any credit for keeping my cool with Mrs. Ruby. He
didn’t think there was anything to worry about, and thought Grandpa and Tatiana
might have just gone out of town for a few days.
    Let’s do a quick recap: I haven’t talked to Grandpa for
almost four days now, which isn’t all that unusual, but a little different. I
find pictures of him and some young woman that is apparently his girlfriend.
That’s a new one but I think I’m handling that pretty well. The old lady next
door tells me this young woman is living with him, and there are people coming
and going from the house at all times of the day and night. Charlie tells me
there isn’t anything to worry about and I shouldn’t listen to the drunk next
door, and he would tell me everything about her when he gets here this evening.
I’ve been trying to think why Grandpa hasn’t told me about his new girlfriend.
The only thing I can come up with is he may be embarrassed about the age
difference between them. If that’s all it is, I can live with that. What I
can’t live with is all this nervous energy. I’m going for a walk.
    Back in a few

A few
    Dear Mary,
  You’ll never guess who I ran into. Grandpa Jon;
I don’t know why we called him that he wasn’t anyone’s grandpa. He had to be