Read Benny: A Tale of a Christmas Toy for Free Online Page B

him.
    He had been walking awfully slowly, his butt
muscles flexing just a bit too much.  He turned, triceps
flexing, face expectant.  "Yes?"
    "Are you doing anything right now?" 
After the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick
herself.
    He swallowed.  "Well, no . . ."
    "Because I desperately need to make an
interview that's supposed to happen in about ten minutes—"
"An interview?  Really?  For what?"
    "For a job.  At Martco."
    "But you already work at Martco."
    "A different job.  A better job. 
Look, I really have to go.  Could you do me a favor? 
Just hang around until I get back.  It shouldn't be more than
an hour."
    He thought about it for about two seconds
before replying with, "I'll do it if you agree to go on a date with
me on Friday."
    "Tony . . ."
    "Okay, okay, a guy has to try.  An
hour, huh?  Will I need to change any diapers?"
    "Diapers!" Sam cried indignantly, crossing
his arms and looking up at them with a huffy expression.  "I
don't wear diapers!"
    "No," Carol said, "you won't have to change
any diapers.  You just have to hang out in our
apartment.  I'll leave my cell number if you have any
problems."
    Tony nodded.  Carol caught some
movement below, and she had to look.  Did she just see his
package flex?  No, it couldn't have been. She had second
thoughts.  He had always seemed harmless, but what if he was
doing steroids?  Those things did wacky things to your
brain.  And your package.
    "Well," Tony said, "I was in the middle of a
workout, but I guess I could come over for a while."  He
grinned at Sam.  "We could do some push-ups together,
buddy."
    "Really?" Sam said.
    "Oh, that's all right," Carol said
quickly.  "Maybe you guys could just watch some cartoons."
    Three minutes later she was on her way down
the steps, back into the gray, rainy weather.   She had
exactly seven minutes to get to the store.  She was going to
be late, there was no doubt it.  But not that late. 
Almost on time really.  And when your life was as crazy as
hers, almost on time was pretty much the same thing as
exactly. 

Chapter 3
     
    JEFF HADN'T DONE DRUGS in quite a while, but
there was a time when he had done plenty.  Marijuana. 
Ecstasy.  He'd even tried a little cocaine.  Unlike some
of his Yale fraternity brothers, he'd never gotten hooked on any of
the stuff, not even alcohol.  He had merely wanted to
experiment to see what all the fuss was about, especially because
Dad had warned him repeatedly to stay away from drugs and
booze.  But he still vividly remembered how the drugs affected
his mind, changing and warping reality so everything seemed a bit
off kilter.  Sitting there in Dad's cavernous office, his mind
reeling from what his father had just said, that's exactly how he
felt.  He wondered if Mrs. Cranberry had laced his coffee with
something. 
    "You're joking," Jeff said.
    "I'm afraid not, Jeff." 
    And when Dad used his first name, instead of
calling him son, Jeff knew it wasn't a joke.  He looked at the
puffy man next to him, who was slumped in his chair and fiddling
with his pocket watch.  This guy?  He couldn't believe
it.  He refused to believe it.
    "Why?"
    "Well," Dad said, "I'm not sure you're
ready."
    "I'm ready.  I'm definitely
ready.  I was second in my class at Yale, Dad.  I'm more
ready than anyone."  The stretch limo.  The private
jet.  The skyscraper he was going to build in Chicago to house
the new headquarters.  Gone.  All of it. 
    "I have no doubt you've got book smarts,
son," Dad said.  "Like your mother that way, bless her
soul.  But you've got have more than book smarts to run
Martco.  The company wasn't built on book smarts.  It was
built on hard work and common sense."
    "I've got common sense," Jeff
protested.  "I was in the boy scouts."  One summer. 
And he dropped out before he even got his first badge.  But he
didn't say that.
    "A lot of it's my fault," Dad father went
on.  "I realize this now.  I've no one to blame