Page 75 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
"Yes,please," she nodded, her thoughts on the test and what it might say. Herbody felt warm and a little faint under the infusion of her excitement.
"Uh…yes,of course," Wilson said as he took a step back. Looking around him as ifhe seemingly forgot where he placed them, he slowly gathered himself and foundthe blue and white boxes he was looking for. Tucking them into another whitepaper bag, he turned back to her to ring everything up with shaking hands.
Didpregnancy make him nervous, or maybe even squeamish? No, he was a pharmacist,surely not, she thought. Pressing her lips together, she stopped herself fromwanting to inquire further as she handed him her credit card. Thankfully, thebell to the door was jingling again, alerting them both to a new customer asshe took her bag. Thanking him, she turned away from his odd watchful eyes andhurried down the aisle to the front door.
Thecold fall air rushed around her face as Elijah walked towards her carrying afamiliar bag of his own. Lifting it up, he gave her a conspiratorial grin."I got us some goodies from the bakery to sustain us as we rummage andexplore."
Sanalaughed at that and fell in step with the boy. "I don’t think we will bedoing that much today, although with that being said, I will never turn downdelicious carbs."
Therewas hardly anyone on the street or walking the sidewalks of downtown Tarki.Being the middle of the fall school year, most kids were in school, and parentswere at work or at home staying out of the brisk weather.
Withthe theater in sight, she thought of something she had meant to ask Zach."Whatever happened to Mr. and Mrs. Goldman?"
"Mr.Goldman died," Elijah answered solemnly, "and Mrs. Goldman lives inSunnyside in Antor Falls."
"Sunnyside?Is that a retirement home?" She thought of what Zach told her about AntorFalls.
"Yeah,it’s a real nice retirement and assisted living home a lot of people aroundhere can be invited to when they get older," he explained and then pausedand looked directly at her. "Zach did explain…"
Sanaheld up a hand to his worried expression, stopping him before he went pale overthe fear of saying too much. "Yes, he did, don’t worry."
Elijahsighed. "Yeah, my parents told me he finally told you everything," heemphasized the word as his honeyed gaze watched her face. "But I wasn'tsure if he told you about Antor."
"I'msure there is a lot more he needs to explain, but he ran through the gist ofit. I am happy though to know that Mrs. Goldman is being taken care ofproperly," she said, her thoughts going to her grandmother and how theolder woman had fought tooth and nail not to be put into any sort of home. Ithad been a really stressful time in her family during that predicament. Hermother had tried to explain to her grandmother that there had been manysuitable offers for homes in the area. Sana wondered if Sunnyside had been oneof the offers. It didn't matter, though, eventually one of her aunts just hadto stay with her grandmother towards the end.
Crackingopen one of the caps to the water bottle Elijah bought, Sana took her migrainemedication before digging the keys Zach gave her from her jean pocket. Wearingjust an old t-shirt and a bright orange sweater that had seen better days, apair of faded jeans, and an old pair of badly scuffed sneakers, she felt readyto tackle anything the old theater threw her way as long as it wasn't a deadrat or something, she thought with a grimace.
Comingup to the theater, they stopped, and both appreciated the sight of the oldbuilding. Empty marquee boards fanned out on either side of the standalonebox-office booth that sat between each of the entrance double doors. Newspaper,faded and yellowed with time, covered the glass from top to bottom while thecurving box office booth was carefully boarded up, hiding some of the detailedred and gold art deco design Sana used to marvel at as a kid. Angling her headback, she allowed the wind catch her hair as she followed the towering signthat once read Cinemain big bright bulbs.
Walkingup to one of the newspaper-covered glass doors, she returned Elijah's eager smileas she unlocked the door. The bolt turned over easily. Opening the door, theystepped into the shadowy space of the theater's once-grand foyer.
"Itfeels smaller," she whispered though she wasn't sure why.
"Iwas thinking the same thing." Elijah walked over to the concession counterthat stretched between the two open hallways that led to the theaters. Lookingdown through the counter, he wiped at the thick dust, sending it sprinklinginto the air, hazy and thick, almost sparkling in the shaft of light providedfrom the open theater door.
Elijahcoughed and gave her an apologetic look as he beat his dusty hand on the sideof his jean-covered thigh. "Yeah, my bad," he rasped. "But Zachwas right," he said, pointing down into the concession cabinet."There is a box of Red Hots and those nasty colorful fruit ones. I justremember them being hard as hell, enough to break a tooth."
Sanamade her own face, recalling the horrendous candy. "Ugh, dear God, I thinkthey were called Runts or something. They were indeed the foulest candy ever,besides Circus peanuts."
Elijahturned to her and made a gagging expression. "Holy God, my little sistereats those things just to watch me get nauseous. She doesn't even likethem."
Laughing,she walked over to a hidden little panel behind the concession counter andflipped a switch. An audible buzz whirred from somewhere over their head as thelights flickered to life, casting a warm yellowish glow over everything.
Elijahlooked around appreciatively. "Now, that's what I'm talking about."
"Comeon, let’s go upstairs." She waved for him to follow. "That's whereall the cool stuff would be if there is any left. Movie posters, film reels,maybe even one of the old projectors."
Openingthe door that readEmployees Onlybehind the concession stand, they tookthe stairs up. Musty, stagnant air hit their senses at once, and they bothwrinkled their noses to its assault. Pulling open the second landing door, theyentered a long narrow hall that was still unlit.
"Canyou see the switches? They should be—ah yes. Thank you," her eyes adjustedas the ancient fluorescent lights ahead illuminated with slight tinklingsounds. "Those three doors down there are the projector rooms. Besidesthis room here," she pointed to the door closest to them, "thisentire area used to be one large room where you could look through the openingsin the wall and see what each theater was playing all at once. But Mr. Goldmaneventually just had each area separated into tiny rooms."
"Ihave an uncle that used to work here as a kid. He said it got hot as hell inthose rooms in the summer," Elijah added.
"Ibet," she said as she opened up the office door.
Flickingon the light, they both let out a sound of appreciation at all the stuffcrammed into the office. It was exactly how she remembered it.
"Damn,I should really have recorded us coming in on my phone, this just feels likeone of those Youtube channels that people go into abandoned places all thetime,” Elijah muttered regretfully as she stepped inside.
