Todd Strasser - Wish You Were Dead

10 Comments

Ru22cool? said …

Done anything to improve your looks yet, complainer?

Str-S-d said …

Go to hell, Ru22.

IaMnEmEsIs said …

Dreams do come true.

Realgurl4013 said …

You go, giiirl! You’re a jeeerk, Ru22.

Ru22cool? said …

Oh, wow, Realgurl, that really hurt! Ow, ouch, ouch! I’m in suuuch pain! Loooser.

ApRilzDay said …

What is WRONG with all of you? You’re like a bunch of five-year-olds. And listen, Str-S-d, seriously? You know about KARMA, right? Obviously, writing and wishing someone would die isn’t as bad as doing it, but it still sends NEGATIVE ENERGY into the world. And it’s also not good for YOU personally. People are attracted to POSITIVE people, and you’re not exactly being positive when you’re wishing someone would die. The same goes for the rest of you. Got that, Ru22cool?

Ru22cool? said …

Drop dead.

Realgurl4013 said …

I know negative people can be a drag. But sometimes you can’t help it. If people are really mean, you know?

ApRilzDay said …

I don’t see how being mean back will make anything better.

Str-S-d said …

It makes me feel better.

Saturday 7:04 P.M.

I SPENT HOURS on Saturday afternoon trying to pick an outfit for Safe Rides that night, wanting to look good for Tyler without being obvious about it. The same went for makeup. Just a little bit of eye shadow, mascara, a touch of blush and lip gloss. I wasn’t used to spending so much time on my appearance, and the longer I stared at my reflection in the mirror, the more nervous I felt.

By dinnertime I’d lost my appetite, even though the hearty scent of stew had spread through the downstairs rooms. In the kitchen, Mom and Dad were sitting at the table speaking in hushed voices. As soon as they saw me, they stopped. Mom gave me a nervous “I hope you didn’t hear what we were talking about” look. Then her expression changed, becoming more open and curious when she saw that I was wearing new jeans and an oatmeal-colored cashmere turtleneck. “Don’t you have Safe Rides tonight?”

I knew instantly what she was implying. “Is it that obvious?” I asked, dismayed by the possibility that I’d overdone the clothes and makeup.

“Maybe only to me,” she said, “because I know what you usually wear. So?”

“There’s this guy.…”

Mom and Dad exchanged surprised, and not displeased, looks.

“Do we know him?” Dad asked.

I shook my head. “He’s new this year. And nothing’s going on, so can we please, please skip the parental interrogation?”

Mom gestured for me to have a seat and served me a bowl of stew from a big pot on the stove. She specialized in dinners that didn’t require a lot of oversight, so that she could multitask while the food cooked. Even though I wasn’t hungry, I tried a spoonful.

“This is delicious, Mom,” I said, then nodded at the big pot on the stove. “But why’s there so much?”

“Comfort food for the Cunninghams,” she said. “We’ll bring it over later. I only wish there was something more we could do for them.”

“How are they?” I asked.

“I spoke to Paul today,” Dad said. “The police haven’t come up with anything solid, and neither has the private detective he’s hired. He sounded very low.”

“What about the guys at the party from FCC?” I asked.

Dad shook his head slowly. “He didn’t mention anything about that.”

The conversation turned to preparing the Time Off for winter dry dock. Dad planned to spend a good part of the next day at the marina. I listened with one ear and tried not to watch the kitchen clock. I just wanted to get to the Safe Rides office and see Tyler.

The office would open at eight P.M., but I made myself wait until 8:10 before I walked in. Dave Ignatzia was sitting at the desk. I stopped and looked around.

“Looking for Tyler?” he asked. “He called me this morning. Said something last-minute came up and he was going away for the long weekend and could I take his place?”

It was the second night of a three-day weekend. School would be closed on Monday for a conference. The flip side of safe was boring, and you couldn’t blame anyone for wanting to get away from Soundview for a few days. And yet I felt like I’d been blindsided. I’d been so focused on sharing dispatching duties with Tyler that night that it had never occurred to me that he might back out.

“Sorry,” Dave muttered, and I had no doubt he could read the disappointment in my face.

“Oh, Dave, you have nothing to be sorry about.” I forced a self-conscious laugh. “It just, you know, caught me by surprise.”

“I guess life’s full of surprises,” he said with what I suspected was half-veiled resentment.

Inside the Safe Rides office were two old desks with phones to take the calls from kids who needed rides. Spread around the rest of the room were half a dozen mismatched chairs, as well as a small TV, DVD player, and microwave oven. I took off my jacket and scarf and hung them on a hook by the door. Dave cleaned his glasses on the tail of his shirt. For an instant, he looked a little bit like Michael J. Fox, the star of that old movie Back to the Future . Then he slid his glasses back on and his eyes became the extra large size I was used to. “You look nice tonight,” he said.

“Why, thank you,” I said, caught off guard by the compliment.

“Too bad for Tyler, huh?”

I felt an inward grimace. Was it that obvious that I’d dressed up for Tyler? Would everyone who came into the office tonight immediately guess the same thing? I sat down. “Let’s hope that’s the last surprise for tonight.”

“He’s kind of mysterious, isn’t he?” Dave asked.

“Tyler?” I said a bit uncomfortably. “I guess.”

“Here’s the thing I don’t get,” Dave said. “How come people want to know more about him, and not about me?”

“I guess because he’s new here,” I said. “People don’t know him.”

“And you think you know me? Maybe there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Isn’t that true of just about everyone?”

“Some people get more of a chance to show who they are. Other people never get the chance.”

We hit an awkward silence. I kept thinking about Tyler. There had to be a million reasons why he’d switched at the last minute with Dave, and surely “hot date” was one of them. But speculating about things I had no way of confirming was a bad idea, and I forced my thoughts back into the Safe Rides office and Dave. “Well, what’s one thing you’d like everyone to know about you?”

I don’t think Dave expected that question. “Uh … I guess I’d just want people to know that I’m a nice guy.”

“I think people know that,” I said.

“But …” Dave began to say something, then must have had second thoughts. Instead he reached into his backpack and pulled out a DVD. “Hey, want to watch Juno tonight?”

“Sure,” I said, even though this would probably be the dozenth time I’d see that movie about a quirky girl my age who has a baby and decides to give it away. Still, it might help get my mind off Tyler.