The Ghosts of Now Read Online Free Page A

people feel.”
    “We’re just innocent bystanders,” Mom tells him. “Why should they get mad at us?”
    I start to tell them about the way it is at school, with people divided into groups, with the ones like Debbie calling themselves “socialites,” and the kickers, and thekids of the oil company people, but Dad sort of looks over my shoulder and murmurs “Um-hum” every once in a while, so I know he’s not listening. His body’s home, but his mind is off somewhere else.
    Jeremy comes and goes, usually with a tennis racket under his arm. He’s out a lot in the evenings, and I’m surprised that’s okay with Mom and Dad, but if they don’t care, then why should I? Sometimes Jeremy’s quiet and keeps to himself, and sometimes he rattles on and on about a lot of stuff, but I don’t usually listen. It’s not important. And I’ve got to catch up in French. He’s stopped talking about Boyd Thacker so much, and that’s a relief.
    So the days crumble into another Friday, and that’s when it’s bad. On Fridays Meredith and I were usually together. Sometimes we’d double date, or make popcorn and watch the late late movie.
    This Friday evening I’m alone.
    Mom and Dad are going out to dinner with some company brass who’ve flown in from the Houston office. She stoops to kiss me good-bye. “I’ve left the number of the club by the phone in the den, if you need us,” she says. She’s wearing red silk and looks terrific.
    “Perrier and lime for you tonight,” Dad says to her.
    She makes a little face and blinks her long lashes at him. “Not even a little white wine?”
    “Perrier.” He’s smiling, but his tone is firm. “This dinner is very important for us. I don’t want anything to spoil it.”
    “You know I only drink when I’m bored.” She takes his arm, cuddling up to his shoulder, and they leave. Isettle down in front of the television set in my old jeans and a faded blue T-shirt and flip from channel to channel. Everything is boring. Everything is dumb.
    “What are you watching?” The voice is behind me, and I jump and let out a yelp.
    “You came in like a ghost! Scared me to death!”
    “I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts,” Jeremy says.
    “I don’t.” He’s got a strange look on his face, and one corner of his mouth twitches as though he’s trying not to smile. “Don’t tell me you do.”
    “Maybe I do,” he says. “Some kinds of ghosts, that is.”
    “I see. You’re being selective in your ghosts. How about the ones in the Andrews place? You were ready to believe in those when I told you about them.”
    “Forget the Andrews place.”
    His tone is suddenly sharp and serious. Curiosity makes me needle him just a bit. “Why? Del and I just might do some ghost hunting there some dark night.”
    “Stay away from there,” he says. “It’s just a dumb old house.”
    I can’t read the expression in his eyes. “What are you getting at, Jeremy?”
    “Nothing,” he says. He turns and moves toward the door. “I’m going out.”
    “Who with? Got a girl friend?”
    “None of your business.”
    “Where are you going? Did you tell Mom and Dad?”
    “Don’t try to be my mother, Angie,” he says. “I only have to tell
them
where I’m going, not you.”
    “I don’t care where you’re going.”
    “Good, because it’s none of your business.”
    I turn the sound up louder after he leaves and try to get interested in an old movie. It bombed when it came out, and I can see why. I wish the phone would ring. I wish Del would call. Maybe he will if I concentrate on the telephone. I send all my energies toward that phone, screwing up my face in the effort.
Ring
, I tell it.
Ring!
    But it doesn’t.
    There are noises in the back of the house, and I go to investigate. I’m not really scared. It’s just something to do. It sounds like a tree branch scraping the window. That’s just what it is—a tree branch moving slightly in a breeze, its dry, curling leaves like