Read Little Boy Blue for Free Online Page B

boxes of candy bars.
    Meanwhile, Alex was behind the counter. The
open cash register had two rolls of pennies, which he pocketed. He felt under
the counter and found the long barrel of a revolver. As he held it up in the
shadows, an electric thrill shot through him, both fright and excitement. It
was the first firearm he’d ever had. He put it in the sagging waistband
of his jeans. On shelves behind the counter were bottles of wine. He unscrewed
a bottle-top and took a swig. It was sweet and distasteful, but he swallowed it
down; then he did it again, wondering how it would feel. When a minute passed
without his feeling anything, he took several more gulps. Suddenly the warmth
and the giddiness crept through him. He felt dizzy and disliked it. He turned
the remainder of the bottle upside down and let it gurgle into a pool on the
floor. Then he filled his pockets with packets of chewing gum and grabbed a
paper bag filled with packaged pastries.
    Sammy, meanwhile, had been in the freezer but
came out without taking anything. He was already carrying a large sack filled
with food. Now his fear was gone. “We’ve got plenty—”
    At that moment headlights flashed across the
front window. Not headlights going by but headlights turning into the driveway.
Alex dropped to the floor. They could hear the car engine outside the building.
    The engine went silent. Car doors opened and
slammed shut. Alex visualized the leaning bicycles framed in the
headlights’ glare, while, simultaneously, the wine spread intoxication
from his belly through his brain.
    “Oh Jesus… oh Jesus,” Sammy
whispered, clutching Alex.
    “Get the sacks,” Alex said.
“We’ll go out the front when they come in the back. Forget the
bikes. Just run across the highway.”
    “Look what you’ve got us
into.”
    Alex felt the fire of anger. He wanted to
punch Sammy. Instead he grabbed Sammy’s sleeve and pulled him toward the
front of the store. His elbow brushed the half-empty wine bottle on the
counter, knocking it to the floor with a crash that seemed like thunder.
    Voices from outside could be heard in
snatches, in between the wind and surf. Alex visualized the bicycles
illuminated in the automobile headlights. A giveaway.
    He reached the front door. It was the
accordion-type, folding back from the center during business hours. Now it was
closed— and there was a padlock. Glancing back, he could see down the
aisles and through the arch into the storeroom; a flashlight beam was probing
around the open back door. He ducked away from Sammy and into an aisle. His
fear was growing. He had nowhere to go. The store had no windows.
    A silhouette behind the flashlight beam
filled the back door, moving slowly through the storeroom, sweeping the beam
over the shelves, lighting Pillsbury sacks and cans of Crisco.
    Alex hunkered at the end of the aisle so he
could go either way when the intruder entered. If the man came down one aisle,
Alex would take the other. He might be able to get out by the rear. He’d
forgotten Sammy—
    “I give up, Mister,” Sammy said,
his shadow rising. Then he was framed in the flashlight beam.
    “Sally, I caught one—a goddamm
kid, just like I thought.”
    “Be careful,” a female voice
called. Alex could make out her figure in the doorway.
    “I’m sorry! I’m
sorry,” Sammy whined, going toward the man.
    “Where’s the other one?”
the man asked.
    Alex, on hands and knees, moved behind the
counter. It would take him near the arch. Maybe he could just run by the woman.
His heart was squeezing in his chest. He barely breathed. The flashlight
swept over the countertop, but he was hidden. He was tempted to crawl onto a
counter shelf and hide, but he knew they would find him eventually.
    The man held Sammy’s wrist in one hand
and the flashlight in the other.
    The woman hovered outside, alternately asking what was happening and advising the man to watch out.
    “You take care of this one,” the
man said. “He’s just a kid