Read Online Whippoorwill by Joseph Monninger - Free Book Online Page B

Taylor?”
    â€œYou’ll drive carefully. Don’t say yes and don’t say no. Just think about it, okay? Kids can get a little crazy in cars.”
    â€œI understand.”
    â€œYou, too, Clair. If Danny doesn’t drive properly, will you give me your word that you’ll get out of the car and call me?”
    â€œDad . . .”
    â€œThat’s my one rule. Do you both promise me?”
    I felt like a piece of livestock these men had decided to discuss, but I nodded. So did Danny. It was all exceedingly strange.
    â€œOkay, Clair,” Dad said, “I’m going to start dinner soon. Don’t be too long, okay? Good job with the dog, you two.”
    He left. Weird did not begin to cover it.
    Â 
    Holly called me while I was setting the table to tell me about the pair of awesome sandals she bought. They were on sale, too. I held the phone between my ear and shoulder while I set out plates, folded paper napkins under the knives and forks. We left the back door open so we could get the kitchen aired out. Dad made BLTs, his favorite Friday night meal. Later, I knew, he planned to take a sunset ride with the Devil’s Tongue guys and stop off and have a few beers at the Cattle Call.
    â€œSo what are you doing tonight?” Holly asked when she finished describing the sandals in painful detail. “I want to go see a movie or something. You up for anything?”
    â€œI don’t have any way to get around. Dad’s going out.”
    â€œI could probably talk my big brother into carting us over to Lincoln if we pay for gas.”
    â€œI’m broke,” I said, mostly because I didn’t want to go to the movies with Holly and her brother. “I think I’m going to hang and watch some TV and go to bed early. I feel tired for some reason.”
    â€œMy mom says it’s the season change. She says whenever the season changes people get sleepy.”
    â€œMaybe that’s it.”
    â€œGuess I’ll see you, then. What are you doing tomorrow?”
    â€œI’m actually helping my neighbor train his dog.”
    â€œ
His
dog?”
    â€œDanny Stewart,” I said, my voice a little lower so Dad wouldn’t hear it over the bacon frying. “He’s got a crazy dog that lives next door and we’re trying to train him.”
    â€œI don’t know him. Does he go to our school?”
    â€œNo, he goes to the vo-tech.”
    â€œGrease monkey? I can get into that.”
    â€œHe’s just a guy.”
    â€œYou’re full of secrets. The mysterious Clair.”
    â€œHardly.”
    â€œAre you dating him?”
    â€œNo. Not even close.”
    â€œSounds to me like you are. If you train a dog together, I mean . . .”
    â€œI’ve got to go, Holly. Dad wants to plate dinner.”
    â€œOkay, toodles. Or should I say, poodles?”
    I groaned and hung up. Dad started taking off the bacon. He wore his Devil’s Tongue vest, its leather old and faded from the sun. As soon as the bacon left the pan, the noise was cut in about half. I realized it had made me jumpy. Now that it was gone, I heard the wind outside and the late-afternoon birds calling.
    â€œGrab the mayo, would you?” Dad asked when he slid our plates onto the table. He hadn’t seen that I had put out plates, so he lifted the empty ones off and set them on the counter beside the stove.
    â€œAnd a beer,” he said.
    â€œBikers and beer.”
    â€œYou know it, Harley chick.”
    I brought the mayonnaise and beer over to the table. He opened the beer with his key chain.
    â€œI like the sideburns,” he said when I sat down. “Danny, I mean. He looks like a young Johnny Cash.”
    â€œYou’re ridiculous, Dad.”
    â€œI’m just saying. I hadn’t seen him in a while. He looks good. I liked that he talked to me about taking you out.”
    â€œLike I’m some horrible weight one of you has to