The Trade Read Online Free Page B

being a genius at computers. He hoped he'd
saved the night.
    "Okay,” she relented. She started to talk
about her brother, and then kept on talking. She talked about him
for another ten minutes.
    "Maybe I'll meet him someday,” Jay offered.
"Is he on the Internet? I could look him up there. Do you know his
email address?"
    “ No," Tonia answered,
puzzlement ringing in her voice. "How do you know so much about all
this computer stuff?" Tonia asked.
    "Well... I'm a bit of a computer geek
myself,” Jay said. "In fact, I've been offered a great computer job
here in New York City.”
    "The City,” Tonia corrected him. "No-one says
New York City. They just say 'The City'. You don't want to sound
like a tourist do you?" she asked. She said tourist like it was a
bad word.
    "You know what?" Jay asked. "I think I need
some more instruction in the ways of New Yorkers. Maybe we could
get together tomorrow and you could show me something about 'The
City'?"
    "I'd like that,” Tonia answered. "Now get me
a cab. I can't drive home like this,” she said. "Two beers is my
limit and I'm already at four or five. If I didn't know better I'd
say you were trying to get me drunk or something,” she teased.
    "No ma'am,” Jay answered. Although the
thought had crossed his mind. "No way,” he repeated, the finality
and conviction in his voice was clear.
    Tonia grabbed the bill off the table and paid
the tab. “Thanks again for saving me,” she said.
    “ It was my pleasure,” he
said. They both looked at his absurdly swollen right hand and
laughed. While winding down their laughs they made their plans and
arranged for tomorrow.
    Later that night, as Jay lay in bed in the
Vista Hotel in the World Trade Center in New York City, replaying
the day, smiling and wincing with the pleasures and pains, he
wondered if she’d show, if he'd really ever see her again, or
whether she would change her mind in the night, or the morning, and
leave him alone, all alone, like he had been so often. He wondered
if he’d ever have another first date, or first day, that was so
unlike all the others that had gone before.
    Jay said a small prayer of thanks for having
met Tonia Taggert, and a slightly longer prayer that she would show
in the morning. As he prayed, his mind drifted away to the hills of
Kentucky and the hollows of Ohio, where he would pray alone, and
where he would pray with his mentor.

Chapter
     
    The ringing phone woke Jay Calloway. His eyes
were plastered shut with sleep. His mouth felt like dirty dried
crusty cotton. Who the hell is calling me at... What time is
it?
    "Good morning sleepy-head,” he heard from the
telephone.
    "Hello?" Jay answered.
    "Hello. Jay? It's Tonia Taggert. Remember?
From last night? The baseball game?” Jay could and did remember. He
started to regain consciousness. A smile lit Jay's face.
    "Oh hi Tonia,” he said. His tongue felt like
it was wearing a heavy wool sweater, his mouth tasted dry and
coppery.
    "Could you hold on a second?" he asked. He
got up, went to the bathroom, took a whiz and rinsed out his mouth.
He returned to bed with a tooth brush in his mouth.
    "Sorry. I just woke up, I had to... to get a
glass of water,” he said.
    "Sure you weren't telling somebody to keep
quiet?" she asked.
    "What? No, no. Just me here,” he said
wondering why he suddenly felt guilty.
    "Good,” Tonia said. "So you're a jogger
right?" she asked.
    "Right.”
    “ You weren’t lying last
night? You really jog? And you really want to go jogging this
morning?”
    “ No. Yes. Yes.”
    "Okay, I'll be there in an hour for a jogging
date,” Tonia said. Before he could agree or disagree she had hung
up and was gone. Jay lay back on the bed for a minute, leisurely
dry-brushing his teeth and thinking about the happiness and
unexpected joy of the previous day. He found himself thinking about
Tonia, how she looked, how she sounded, how she had seemed to fit
so nicely into his life. He slowly drifted back to sleep.

    Bang, bang,