Summerlost Read Online Free Page A

you’re specific. Like, Jackie, one of the girls, says college, but she says UC San Diego to study marine biology.
That’s
fine. And if you know exactly the type of car you want to get: also fine. But vague stuff is stupid.”
    â€œWell then, I’m stupid,” I said. “Because I don’t know.”
    Leo frowned. “You can’t think of anything you want?”
    I did not answer that question because right then an older lady walked by and that’s when it happened.
    The accent.
    Leo smiled and, sounding like Oliver Twist or who knows what, called out, “Can I interest you in a program, my lady?”
    I didn’t know if the accent was right. I didn’t know if it wasreal England or kid-in-a-movie England. What I did see was that Leo’s face lit up and then the lady’s face lit up and his smile seemed as big as the world. Like he loved the world. Like he had no idea what it could do.
    She bought three programs while Leo joked with her in his maybe-real English accent and I stood watching.
    â€œImpressed?” Leo asked me when she’d gone away.
    â€œVery,” I said, but I made it sound sarcastic.
    â€œLet’s hear you try,” he said. “Next time, your turn. With an accent.”
    â€œBut Gary said—”
    â€œI won’t tell Gary,” Leo said. “Come on.”
    The next person we saw was a man, an old man, with a neatly pressed white shirt and a bottle of water in his hand. He had a nice face and big glasses, and he walked fast.
    â€œSir,” I said, and then when he didn’t hear me, I said it louder. “SIR. Could I interest you in a program?” I did not know what was coming out of my mouth, accent-wise. Maybe I was German? Or Italian? Or Irish? Australian?
    He stopped and looked at me and I held out a program.
    â€œI don’t think so,” he said, pleasantly enough, and then I turned around to see Leo shaking with laughter.
    â€œWhat was
that
?” Leo asked.
    â€œI’m surprised you didn’t recognize it,” I said. “It’s from a little-known part of England. A very small province.” Didthey even have provinces in England? I wasn’t sure. I knew they didn’t have states.
    â€œReally?” Leo said. “And what’s the name of this province?”
    â€œIt’s Bludge,” I said, in my terrible accent, saying the first even-sort-of-British word that came to mind.
    â€œOh yeah?” Leo asked. “And what’s the capital city of the province of Bludge?”
    Did provinces have capitals? “Bludgeon,” I said.
    That made Leo laugh so hard that he almost missed a lady with two teenagers walking past. But then he switched right into the accent and she bought a program and smiled at him.
    We were walking back along the sidewalk when some boys on bikes came through. An usher waved at them to stop but they didn’t.
    â€œThey’re not supposed to cut through here during festival hours,” Leo said, “but they do it anyway because it’s faster.”
    When the boys came closer, I could see that they were about our age. Spiky blond hair on one, baseball hats on all the rest. Tall socks. Shiny shirts made out of fabric that looked like plastic. Coming home from some sports practice, maybe. They were going so fast that I worried they’d slam right into us, so I followed Leo’s lead and stepped over onto the grass.
    As they came by, one of them knocked Leo’s hat off his head and they all laughed.
    â€œThat’s new,” Leo said. He reached down to pick up his hat.“Usually they just yell stuff at me when they come by.” I could tell he was trying to sound like he didn’t care. It was almost working. “They think they’re so wild, but they’re kids on bikes. It’s not like they’re Hell’s Angels or something.”
    â€œThey’re like Hell’s farts,” I said, and that