Flowers forAndy by Kathy Luder
I
was eating lunch at Molly’s house at the end of the summer. After grace, her dad, a deputy for the county, announced, “Last night Andy Roberts jumped off the Interstate Bridge into the river.They found his body washed up behind the 7-11.” “Andy Roberts?” Molly squeaked, her eyes wide in horror. “That kid never had a lick of sense,” Molly’s mom said.“He wasn’t raised right.” Molly’s brother, Chris said,“You know him Molly. He goes to the Catholic school.” Her mom muttered,“That is a shame.” The phone rang and Chris jumped up to get it. On his way he bumped his cup and some Kool-Aid sloshed over onto Molly’s sandwich and plate. A circle of red began to spread on her napkin. She made no move to wipe it up. Her dad said,“It’ll be a lot of paperwork. I’m glad I didn’t get the call. All the same, I’ll probably have to work late tonight, to make up for the shortage it’ll cause.”Taking a bite of his oversized sandwich, he said,“What time is that DVD due back?”
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