Lauren Takes Leave by Gerstenblatt, Julie (ebooks children's books free txt) 📕

take Collins, then,” sheconcludes, sitting back and turning up the Latin salsa on the radio. I can tellthat she’s satisfied in the way that drivers are once they have mentally mappedout their route.

We stare out our respective windows. It’s another gloriousday here, and I feel some regret over not being able to enjoy it. Kat is sortof right about that, much as it makes me feel like a douche—Lenny’s got meusing his favorite word—to admit.

We go over a bump and the casket rattles slightly behindus.

A strange euphoria overcomes me. I don’t know why, butever since I attended my first funeral when I was thirteen, I’ve always feltvery much alive in the presence of a dead body.

I know it’s morbid to think like that, but I can’t helpit. Sonia Goldberg is making the sun shine brighter for me today, putting theworld—with all of its contradictory desires—in sharper focus. It sounds odd,but I whisper a small prayer of thanks to her, for reminding me of the joys ofliving.

I want to tickle my children and hear their giggles ofdelight. I want to hug Doug. I want to try again.

As much as I was looking forward to the flight down here,I’m now equally anticipating the flight home.

And then the van slows down.

And then the van comes to a crawl.

And then, the van stops.

The swell of traffic seems to have come out of nowhere. Oneminute we were cruising, and the next, we are enmeshed in a jam of epicproportions.

“What the fuck?” Kat asks.

“And…she’s back!” Lenny says, clearly pleased to hear Katspew an expletive.

“Not sure,” the driver says with a shrug. “I’ll radio inand see whassup.”

“This is bad,” Jodi mutters to herself. “Very.”

The four of us hold a collective breath as the driver asksfor details. “Yeah, I’m on Collins!” she calls into her device.

“You where?” a guy shouts back through the radio.

“Collins, man, Collins!” she yells, pounding on thedashboard for emphasis.

My euphoria has been replaced with dread. Lenny lookscalm, but raises his eyebrows at me in question. Kat is sucking a curl.

“You going to duh parade?” the disembodied dispatcher’svoice crackles back.

“Whah parade?”

“Oh, this is too much!” Jodi exhales in exasperation. “Areyou two for real?”

“Forreal,” Lenny smiles. “Dat’s how you say it. Forreal.”He motions across his body with his hand splayed wide, like a homie in one ofhis videos.

“Jesus Fucking Christ.” Kat shakes her head.

I try to calm her down, although my own heart is beatingwildly. “I know, it’s making me anxious, too.”

“No, Lauren! I mean, walking right beside our van is JesusFucking Christ!”

All heads turn to follow Kat’s pointer finger. Indeed,strolling a few paces in front of us is a man in a long, white, flowing robe,with stringy brown hair extending down his back.

Jodi rolls down her window and sticks her torso out.“Hey!” she calls. “Hey…Son of God!”

The man turns toward the sound of her voice. Spotting herwaving at him, he waves back and smiles. “Yes, my disciple. What may I do foryou?”

“Can you, like…tell us why there’s so much goddamnedtraffic?”

“And why you are dressed like that, and what the hell isgoing on here, and, oh, about a million other things,” Kat addsconversationally.

“I do not believe that God almighty has damned thetraffic.” He pauses and smiles at his own little joke. “But I will guess thatthe swell of cars is caused by the closing this afternoon of Collins Avenue.”

“Closing?” Jodi calls back, echoing what we are allthinking.

“Yes, for the Gay Pride Alliance costume parade. Itis…heavenly. You may be stuck here for a few hours until the road is reopened.They are preparing the parade of floats now.” He bows and continues on his way.

“Fuck those gay motherfuckers and their gay motherfuckingparade!” Jodi swears.

“She’s really someone’s mother?” Lenny asks no one inparticular.

Kat slides the van door open on her side and jumps out.“I’m going to get a better look, just see how bad it really is up there,” shesays. “Back in five.”

Lenny gives us a half wave and follows her out into theheat.

“Great,” I sigh. I scoot over to the middle and tap Jodion the arm. “You okay?”

“Just don’t,” she whispers, pulling her arm away from me.“I know you mean well, Lauren, but please. Don’t even try right now.”She sinks lower in her seat and takes out her BlackBerry. “I better e-mail mymom.”

Given the choice between sitting in the thick silence ofthe van or going out into the thick Miami heat, I pick the latter.

Which is a choice that changes everything.

Chapter 25

I’m walking north, weaving my way delicately betweenhordes of parade-goers, sunbathers, and tourists lining the avenue. Some groupsof performers have assembled themselves in clumps here and there, dressed inelaborate flamenco costumes and other outlandish, garish (and, in one case,ass-less leather) splendor. It looks more like Carnival in Rio than any gaypride parade I’ve ever seen in New York.

Again, I find myself regretting that we’ll have to leaveMiami so soon. I would have loved to watch the full entertainment and all thefloats go by.

I stop in front of an art deco hotel to let a crowd oftie-dyed and jean-short-wearing hippies pass. In that moment, a whiteHummer-style stretch limousine pulls up next to me and honks “La Cucaracha.”

I turn toward it and smile, anticipating a bunch ofElvises or Marilyns will emerge.

Instead, a window toward the back of the vehicle rollsdown halfway, and a man’s hand emerges. He’s pointing to me. I do the obviousand point to myself, too. The hand makes a thumbs-up signal.

I am not approaching an unmarked vehicle like that, nomatter how intrigued I might be. And intrigued I am. I shake my head back andforth. The last thing I need on this trip is to be abducted.

The tinted window rolls down a few inches more. The man’shand comes back out, this time waving a fedora.

I’d know that stupid hat anywhere.

Then, just as quickly, the hand and hat withdraw and thewindow slides back up.

I approach the vehicle and knock. “Okay, Tim. Let me in.”

The automatic locks release. Without thinking much beyond Well,this should be interesting, I pull on the handle, jump in the