He tapped his temple. "I got a logical mind. Analytical, right? I bet I could be a peeper just like you."
"Gee, Teddy, sure. I don't see why not. The truth is I stored some boxes at John's while I was in the middle of a move. My stuff must have gotten mixed up with his when he left Santa Teresa. By the way, which storage company?"
His expression turned crafty. "What makes you ask?" He said, in a slightly mocking tone.
"Because I'm wondering if he's still in the area somewhere."
Teddy shook his head, way ahead of me. "No go. Forget it. You'd be wasting your time. I mean, look at this way. If the guy used a phony name, he prob'bly also faked his phone number and his home address. Why contact the company? They won't tell you nothin'."
"I'll bet I could get the information. That's what I do for a living these days."
"You and Dick Tracy."
"All I'm asking is the name."
Teddy smiled. "How much's it worth?"
"How much is it worth?"
"Yeah, let's do a little business. Twenty bucks."
"Don't be silly. I'm not going to pay you. That's ridiculous."
"So make me an offer. I'm a reasonable guy."
"Bullshit."
"All I'm saying is you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."
"There can't be that many storage companies in the area."
"Fifteen hundred and eleven, if you take in the neighboring counties. For ten bucks, I'll tell you which little town it's in."
"No way."
"Come on. How else you going to find out?"
"I'm sure I can think of something."
"Wanna bet? Five says you can't."
I glanced at my watch and slid out of the seat. "I wish I could chat, Teddy, but you have that appointment and I have to get to work."
"Whyn't you call me if you change your mind? We could find him together. We could form us a partnership. I bet you could use a guy with my connections."
"No doubt."
I picked up the cardboard box, made a few more polite mouth noises, and returned to my car. I placed the box in the passenger seat and then slid in on the driver's side. I locked both doors instinctively and blew out a big breath. My heart was thumping and I could feel the damp of perspiration in the small of my back."John Russell" was the alias for a former Santa Teresa vice detective named Mickey Magruder...my first ex-husband. What the hell was going on?
Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today's globalized world.
The story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
The most mature work yet from an incomparable storyteller, TransAtlantic is a profound meditation on identity and history in a wide world that grows somehow smaller and more wondrous with...
First time novelist Vaddey Ratner captured my heart and senses in this novel based on her childhood in Cambodia. Her story transcends any news story...
read more
From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years...
read more
Trite but true, all good things must come to an end. I so wanted to keep reading the wonderful prose, the settings that let one think they are part...
read more
Kenn Nesbitt is new Children's Poet Laureate(Jun 12 2013) Kenn Nesbitt has been named the new Children's Poet Laureate: Consultant in Children's Poetry to the Poetry Foundation, which noted that the two-year position...
Full Story
