Law & Crime
At the turnoff to Fastback Beach, Spider stomps the brakes and the car fishtails. He straightens it but we've passed the turnoff, so he cuts a U-turn in the middle of the highway, laying rubber that smokes around us. Then we're on the gravel trail leading down to the beach.
Below us, white in the moonlight, stretch miles of sand. This is a perfect place for drag racing. Spider steps on it and the car jumps ahead. I put my hand down for balance and brace as we hit a dune and become airborne.
Tracie crumples and falls to the ground. My dad twists around to look at her. He bellows. He lunges at the man again.
Blam!
Blam!
A second person falls to the ground.
Only my dad is left standing.
I was turning the corner to my street when I spotted the key. Because of the way the sun was shining, it glistened. Someone had left it right in the lock of their front door.
The house was a small red brick cottage that looked a lot like ours. I walked up the front stairs and raised my finger to the doorbell. My plan was to let whoever lived there know they'd forgotten the key.
I didn't ring the doorbell. I turned the doorknob and let myself in.
I looked at his driver's license. He was five foot nine, 150 pounds and had blue eyes. What do you know? Same as me. I almost laughed. Funny how we could be so much alike and so different at the same time. Andrew Ashbury got everything he could ever want and I got nothing.
How did that happen? I stared at his face. What was so great about him? He was no better than me.
Miré su licencia de conducir. Medía cinco pies nueve pulgadas. Pesaba 150 libras y tenía los ojos azules. Qué coincidencia, igual que yo. Casi me dio risa. Era increíble cómo podíamos ser iguales y a la vez diferentes. Andrew Ashbury tenía todo lo quería y yo no tenía nada.
¿Cómo suceden esas cosas? Me fijé en su cara. ¿Qué tenía de especial? No era mejor que yo.
