Part 16 (2/2)
”You are her!” Eddie stared at me ”Whoa, Mazie, chill, okay? I won't snitch you out” He clapped a hand over his heart ”I'm the president of your fan club You're like, inary weapon ”You knohen you took the prison warden hostage with your AK-47 and led a mass escape from your cellblock? That was totally hard-core!”
”That's ridiculous! Where did you hear that?”
”It's all over the Internet”
”Yeah, and that bit where you took out three rent-a-cops and used a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher to destroy a toilet factory,” Rico cut in, ”that was like whoa, you are totally the man!” He seized one of my wrists, turned it over and planted a kiss on my pulse point ”I'd take a bullet for you, beautiful!”
”Half the kids in this school would,” Eddie said
”Yeah, and the other half would sell her out for a quarter,” Rico said
”A todaear to ear
”Uh-oh,” Rico pointed toward the cafeteria Through the e could see a tall wo to one of the lunch ladies The woman wore a pinstriped suit and possessed the I-do-not-take-crap air of a crack administrator ”It's the principal,” Rico whispered ”Man, she's got a bug up her ass about souard with the mustache was at the principal's elbow Bear's Janitors slunk behind hi a kind of Secret Service aura I watched to see if they were going to talk into their lapels In a few seconds they'd shi+ft their focus to the courtyard, andto survive their X-ray vision Ki to the courtyard
”Who're the whack jobs?” whispered Rico ”They after you, Mazie?” Suddenly he was darting back into the building Planning to fingerupto run Eddie grabbed uys didn't see you yet Put your arm around me You'reot your hand on your hyna's ass, you're a pussy”
”You will be a pussy, because I' clangor suddenly shattered the air and I shrieked Then I realized it was the school fire alar us a thuhted at this excuse to cut classes
”C'irl-echa la cookie!” Rico whooped
Three etaway
I hadn't been planning on it, but when I unlockedit for granted that they were invited, Eddie in the shotgun seat, Rico in the backseat withthe speed lireen Lincolns
”Who were theuys,” I said ”Janitors”
Cackles of laughter fro's funny You can't die Major guilt pangs I ought to pull over and kick theed with aiding and abetting a fugitive Worse yet, Bear's creeps ht come after them The trouble was I needed Eddie He was my only source of information on Luis the Mysterious
”If the cops stop us, I took you hostage, got it?” I said, slowing as a light turned yellow
”With what?” Rico puffed out his scrawny chest, offended at the thought of being taken hostage by a small female
”My feh-pitched voice, turning around to high-five Rico ”Dude, we are so totally pussy-whipped!” They both laughed like lunatics
Rico found an old pair of Labeck's sunglasses in the back, reached over the seat and set them over my eyes ”So what's our plan?” he asked
”No idea,” I sighed There was no safe place for sonizability quotient of the Pillsbury Doughboy We couldn't just keep on cruising; the car was running on fuas stations had surveillance cameras inside and out, and some clerk was sure to spot ed out a hip-hop rhythet it,” Rico said ”We're gonna stick out like penguins in a desert”
”Theschool hours”
We drove, the boys joking and horsing around, this whole thing a terrific adventure for them, while I prayed that the car wouldn't sputter to a halt in theIt was annoying It was oddly fa the lyrics
Buy et back
Escape tip 23: When you're in a slu
-Hank Aaron The Brewers versus the Cubs at Miller Park I paid for our tickets and altzed through the turnstiles without a snag nobody paid us the slightest attention; ere just three shi+ftless kids ditching school for the ball game, an old, honored Milwaukee tradition We stopped at a booth and I used the last of Luella Parkhurst's cash to pay for protective coloration: a Brewers jersey and cap
It was the third inning and the Breere down 10 e filed into the stands, found our nosebleed seats, and sat down We had this section all to ourselves, so I took a chance on freeing hted to be out, Mr Alpha Male strutted back and forth along the bleachers for a while, then came back, hopped into my lap, and settled down for a nap
The stadiu a blue sky studded with puffy clouds I ame if it hadn't been for the fact that any one of the thirty-five thousand spectators nize me any second The stadium was unusually crowded for a weekday because whenever the Cubs played, hordes of Chicagoans drove up to Milwaukee, snagging all the good seats and clogging up the freeways
”Miller time,” Rico said ”Anybody want a beer?”
”You're what-fifteen?” I sputtered ”Don't they card?”
”Sixteen” Rico sot ID that says I'ht it over the Internet”
”Your funeral, homey,” said Eddie ”Princess Mazie?”
I shook my head I didn't need a beer buzz to make me dumber
When he'd left, Eddie turned toto tell ht?”
I hesitated, debating whether to tell hi for time, I stripped off the Zablocki sweatshi+rt and reached for the Brewers jersey Eddie leaned over to assist, his hands brushi+ng against my boobs as he helped me pull on the shi+rt
”No bra, huh?” he co very interested
”Deal with it” I elbowed Eddie's groping hands away I didn't need Corruption of a ing?” Eddie asked
”To fake out whoever's chasingmy cue froain by donning a green derby and joining Chicago's St Patrick's Day parade In my Brewers blue-and-white-striped jersey, I blended in with the baseball fans like amarshmallow in a cup of hot cocoa I pulled the Luis snapshot out of my pants, wiped off the dirt smears, hand-ironed the creases, prayed it didn't snize the boy in this picture?”