Page 40 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
“Hey,” he said to a young boy walking past about to take a bite of his snow cone. “Do you know Edith Sherman?”
Henry nudged a step closer, using a spaghetti squash birdhouse to block his face.
“Huh?” the boy responded, blue liquid sliding down his fingers and dripping onto the sidewalk.
“Blonde hair, brown eyes. New to town.”
“Ohhh.” The boy slurped from the rim of the cup, speaking with his mouth half-full. “You mean Henry’s girl.”
Henry couldn’t keep from grinning.
“Yeah, just saw her at the medical tent. She fixed my arm. It was bleeding all over.” The boy lifted his elbow to show off his lifesaving Band-Aid.
Steve inhaled a slow breath, clearly not impressed with the boy’s battle wound any more than probably hearing Edith referred to asHenry’s girl. “Where’s this medical tent?”
“Down the street from the car show.”
“Where’s the car show?”
“Down the street from the library.”
“Where’s the library?”
The boy squinted one eye in thought. “You know where Tall Danny lives?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s down the street from his house.”
Henry tried not to laugh. Especially when his new little best friend waved at another boy and yelled, “Yo! Tall Danny! This guy wants to know where you live,” and the other boy yelled back, “Down the street from the library. Why?”
“Forget it,” Steve muttered, shoving past the boy and making it half a dozen steps before he gripped the back of a park bench and closed his eyes. Almost as if he were about to pass out.
Henry set down the birdhouse. Was he seriously about to pass out?
Before Henry could decide whether it would be best to catch him or let him fall, a voice Henry would recognize anywhere broke through the vague chatter of milling people.
“This man. Right here.”Peg.
Wearing a red, white, and blue straw hat, star-shaped sunglasses, and aGod Bless Americasequined T-shirt, she marched up to Steve and jabbed him in the back with her pointer finger.
Henry reached for the birdhouse again.
“I saw it with my own eyes.” Peg jabbed Steve in the chest when he turned to face her.
“Saw what?” Steve rubbed his chest, nearly losing his balance against the park bench.
“You. Littering.” Peg pointed to the ground where Steve’s crumpled orange soda can lay in the grass. “There’s the evidence. Do something, James.”
Henry should have brought popcorn. Because sure enough, there was James, dressed in his dark police uniform.Whether the miserable look on his face was due to the heat or the fact that his career choice had led him to moments like this was a toss-up.
“Now look here—” Steve started to say before his face contorted in a blend of heavy perspiration and agony.
“Hey, buddy, you okay?” James asked. “You don’t look so good.”
“Of course he doesn’t look good,” Peg said. “He looks guilty. Now knock off the buddy talk and arrest him.”
Steve clutched the bench with a growl.
