Melanie Jackson Out of the whole Death Drop lineup why come to me for help I didn’t look very respectable My la Angels T-shirt was streaked with mud Besides I was a boy Kids with prob lems needed a nice lady A middle-aged motherly type (cid:179)(cid:60)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:3)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:182)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:80)(cid:34)(cid:180)(cid:3)(cid:44)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:78)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:17)(cid:3) I didn’t put a lot of friendliness into my voice She scowled My aunt she said as if I should know Right I said I glanced up and down the line of people If I left it to help the kid I’d lose my place I spotted an attendant at the entrance He wore black jeans and a black T with a pomegranate design He was pale with a pinched expression like he didn’t want to be there Maybe he thought he was too good to be taking tickets I told the kid That’s who you need Someone who works here 4
Death Drop She shook her head The sausage like curls bounced She pointed to me To my baseball shirt Angels she said Angels help people Screams ripped through the air Death Drop was plunging The top half of the elevator slid back Now the passengers could see the ground hurtling toward them The elevator tipped forward They screamed louder (cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:178)(cid:192)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:80)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:17)(cid:3) Death Drop zoomed right into them (cid:50)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3) gas-powered from jets built in a circle around the elevator No one was at risk of getting burned The elevator landed People stag gered out One guy looking kind of green ran into a washroom The blond kid was still watching me With a great effort I kept my voice patient About my T-shirt The Los 5
Melanie Jackson Angeles Angels are a team See I’m into baseball I’m a pitcher The girl nodded You will help me I was not getting through to this kid I wasn’t used to dealing with children I had no younger siblings And my life consisted of baseball baseball baseball I decided the best plan was to forge ahead I smiled brightly at her So Now that we’ve cleared that up why don’t you go over to that guy in black He’ll Take care of you I meant to say I never got the words out The kid opened her mouth wide and howled Tears sprang from her eyes I’d never seen anything like it People turned to stare They looked from me to the kid and back again The stares turned to glares I was being mean I was bullying a little kid I gave up I took the girl’s hand (cid:179)(cid:47)(cid:72)(cid:87)(cid:182)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:88)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:17)(cid:180) 6
Death Drop She kept bawling But she let me lead her to the attendant I have a lost child I began The attendant was telling a boy with thick glasses that he didn’t meet the height requirement He pointed to a cardboard cutout of a grinning red demon with horns and a tail A sign underneath warned If you’re shorter than the demon you’re too young to ride Death Drop I recognized the boy Dieter Crane The Deet we called him He was the class bookworm He was also a pest about baseball Dieter showed up to every practice begging Coach to let him on the team But brainy Deet had skipped ahead two years in school so he was younger than the rest of us He was too young for the team Coach said Every practice Coach roared at him to scram But it didn’t put Dieter off 7
