Read Golem in My Glovebox for Free Online Page A

across the grass in a sticky mass and oozed up my ankles and calves. Whatever history Maurice had with Stacy, it wasn’t good.
    “Who is she?” I asked.
    He folded his arms across his chest and scuffed his sneaker at a cluster of dandelions, sending the fluff drifting toward the direction of the swimming pool. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
    He sighed and waved me over to an abandoned fire pit a short distance away. We each sat in a folding camp chair. I rested my elbows on the canvas-covered arms and waited.
    Maurice examined his fingers, gathering his thoughts. “We grew up next door to each other. Together all the time.”
    I don’t know what I’d expected him to say, but that wasn’t it. “She was your childhood sweetheart?”
    He nodded. “We used to talk about getting married someday and who would be the one to convert—whether I would switch to under-the-bed, or she would become a closet dweller.”
    “Wait—what? Convert? I thought you were just, I don’t know, born a closet monster.”
    Maurice frowned. “It’s more complicated than that. When monsters are born, they go where their families are, obviously. But when they reach maturity, they pledge to a league, and the affiliation becomes permanent.”
    I stared, waiting for him to crack a smile. He didn’t move. “Seriously,” I said. “You have to join a league.”
    He nodded. “Yes. It sets the tone for the rest of a young monster’s life.”
    For some reason, it seemed like the most ludicrous story I’d ever heard. I couldn’t get past the idea that Maurice could have chosen to be anything other than the closet monster I knew and loved. Also, I was pretty sure he was yanking my chain. “So, being in the Closet League—what’s that mean, exactly? Go, team Closet? Is there a bowling team? Are there meetings?”
    Maurice made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “See, this is why I don’t tell you anything. You don’t take me seriously.”
    I did my best to look contrite. “I’m sorry, Maurice. I’ll be serious. So, what happened between you? Obviously, you didn’t stay together.”
    He looked away and shrugged. “People grow apart, that’s all. We lost touch.”
    “Uh huh.” I didn’t believe him. But the set of Maurice’s shoulders told me that was all he was willing to share for the moment. “Can you set aside your differences, or is it too much baggage?”
    “Too much for what, exactly?” He narrowed his eyes.
    I took a deep breath and let it out. “I can’t exactly let her go back out on her own at the moment. Not until Bernice gets a team out here to rebuild the O.G.R.E. squad in the area and we’re sure Stacy isn’t going to go back out on a sightseeing walkabout. Also, if I understand your laws correctly, she would normally be paying some sort of fine or doing jail time for breaking the rules, right?”
    Maurice shifted in his chair and frowned. “Well, yeah. But you’re not going to send her to Bernice, are you? She’ll be locked up.”
    Yeah. There was more to their relationship than he wanted to let on. It was as clear as the worry on his face. He was angry with Stacy, but he didn’t want her in trouble with the Hidden police. “I had something different in mind.” I smiled. “If she stayed here and worked off her punishment, it would probably be easier for everybody involved, including Bernice.”
    He gazed, unfocused, at the distant tree line, his brow furrowed. I let him think it through.
    “So, you want me to be her jailer, basically.”
    “Not her jailer. More like her boss.” Maurice loved bossing people around. He had to love this, at least on some level. “Have her assist you. You really could use some help around here, what with all the Hidden coming and going.”
    Maurice ran his palm over the top of his head, leaving the sparse hairs standing up in a haphazard swatch. “Zoey, I just...Maybe we could...Gah!” He rose