Reincarnated

Chapter 9

We finally arrived at the bus terminal. Grover made a beeline to the bathroom, as he always does when he is upset or anxious. I started to follow him towards the bathroom when Percy tugged on my arm. 

"Come on, let's get out of here," he says.

I look at him as if he was crazy. "Percy, we can't just ditch Grover. We promised we would wait for him."

"I know how much you hate breaking your word, but seriously. Did you see him? He was acting as if we were dead already!" Percy exclaimed. 

After a bit I finally relented. I called up a taxi using my taxi whistle I had perfected over the years. Something that will hopefully be useful in the future.

"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," Percy told the driver.

We walked into our little apartment, hoping mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. The floor was ankle-deep with empty chips bags and beer bottles. 

He said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

"Where's mom?"

"Working," he said. While looking me up and down very inappropriately. You see, he's been trying to get me to give him a 'show'. If you don't know what that means, I'm not going to spoil your innocent brain, but he's such a pedophile. I make sure to never be in the same room with him alone. Because sooner or later he won't take no as an answer and it's going to be bad for me. At least he is going to be gone soon. "You got any cash?"

"We don't have any cash," Percy told him.

He raised a greasy eyebrow. "You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his weight. Am I right, Eddie?" I still can't understand how that guy can do math and yet only have a brain the size of a grain of rice. 

Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at us with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kids just got here." 

"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.

 Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony. Gross. 

"Fine," Percy said. He dug a wad of dollars out of his pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose." 

Oh, why does Percy always have to get angry and then give away all his money? I only placed ten dollars on the table, but it was all in ones making it seem like I just gave him a huge sum of money. At the same time, I used a small sleight of hand and grabbed the money Percy gave him before running after Perce.

Let's see when he notices that he only has ten dollars and not hundreds of dollars from bullying children. 

"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after Percy. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"

We dropped our suitcases on the beds. We had a bunkbed, Percy on top, me on the bottom. 

I quickly surveyed the damage Smelly Gabe had inflicted upon our poor, poor room. Boots on the windowsill, magazines everywhere along with beer bottles and cigars. The air smelled horrid, the stench washing over us.

I got to work cleaning the place even though it wasn't going to be used by us in a while. 

I opened the windows so the stench would go away with the wind. I then grabbed a broom from the closet and started sweeping up the mess on the floor. I just finished up cleaning the floor when mom walked in.