“We will see.”
“I thought you were going to work?”
“Got my days mixed up. It’s tomorrow, not today.”
“Ah…”
“Yeah, it was a great waste of money to ride the bus all the way there and then have to come back fornothing.”
“Oh, shit!” I say, scrambling to open the door and pull out the bag. I turn to Cammy with a grin. “We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
I hook my arm in hers, looking around. “Let’s go inside and talk. I don’t trust these people.”
When we get inside, we go to our room. I get comfortable on my bed while she lies on Chrissy’s. I tell her everything—well, as much as I can. She looks like she doesn’t believe a word I’ve said.
“This can’t be real.”
“That’s what I said!” I shout, sitting up and throwing my legs off the bed. Cammy turns on her side to look at me.
“Are you sure this isn’t a way for some rich guy to get away with kidnapping a poor kid and killing him to eat him? Youknow, like Jeffrey Dahmer did with those poor African American boys? That was awful.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask.
“Jeffrey Dahmer! What world do you live in? He used the fact that no one cared about people of color to experiment on them. No one cared because they weren’t white, just like no one cares about us because we’re poor. It’s fucked up and disgusting, but it’s how our world is.”
“I don’t think that’s true, Cammy. Some people care.” I run my hand through my hair. “And Harmon isn’t Jeffrey Dahmer. Obviously it’s fucked up whathedid, and the people who ignored it, but I don’t think that’s what Harmon is doing. He isn’t using our status as a cover for drugging people and eating them.”
“I don’t know, Cass. This seems weird.”
“Weird, maybe. But it’s the answer toallof our problems. One month of this and we can get our own place. If we wait three months, we could buy a house!”
She still looks skeptical, but I know something that could change her mind entirely.
“I have an idea.” I get up and offer her my hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Oh, I have a lot of things in mind.”
Cautiously, she takes my hand, and I grab the bag with the other, dragging her all the way outside. I open the passenger door and shove her in and get into the driver’s side.
“I hate how nice this is,” she whines, looking around at the sleek interior. Leather seats, shiny dashboard.
“I love it. Oh, look at this! It’s a freaking button to start the car.”
“A button?” she says, leaning over to look.
“Yep. Took me way too long to figure that out.”
We take off out of the park, and I turn down the road to the check-cashing place on the corner that we use when we get paid. I park out front.
“First, we are going to cash this check. Then we are going to go shopping.”
“Shopping?”
“I need clothes for this gig. Plus, we need to stop at the pharmacy to pay for Chrissy’s meds. Asking around for the witch may not be a bad idea either. Maybe we can convince her to fill out the paperwork.”