Free Marooned in Manhattan by Sheila Agnew Page B

Scott some money by doing the paperwork myself instead of him having to pay another attorney to do it. That would be a terrible waste, especially when he is so strapped for cash and the clinic expenses are so high and he has that new receptionist’s salary to worry about – Kelly.’
    ‘Karen,’ I corrected automatically.
    ‘Do you want your uncle to have to pay thousands of dollars to a lawyer?’ she said, in a fake shocked voice.
    ‘No, of course not,’ I said angrily. ‘I just didn’t realise anything had to be done, and won’t Scott and I have to sign the papers?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘You are the child. You’re not even allowed to read them.’
    ‘It’s my life,’ I said angrily.
    ‘But your life does not belong to you in the eyes of the law,’ she said primly. ‘Yes, Scott has to sign, but we can get them ready now. If I tell Scott before I do the work, he will want to pay my law firm’s fees, which is what we are trying to avoid, isn’t it?’
    I poked again at the large, rubbery, yellowish beans in my salad.
    ‘Here,’ said Leela, pulling a little red notebook out of her bag and flicking it open and handing me a pen. ‘Just write Janet’s email address here, that will be enough.’
    I hesitated.
    ‘Oh! I’m so sorry, Evie,’ she said gushingly.
    ‘What?’ I said.
    ‘Are you afraid Janet doesn’t want you anymore?’
    ‘No, of course not!’ I said hotly. ‘Janet is one of the most loyal, best, greatest people I know. She would have me in a second, any time, no matter what.’
    ‘So, there’s no problem then,’ said Leela crisply.
    I pushed the pen and notebook back at her.
    ‘I want to go home,’ I said.
    ‘Of course you do, sweetie, and you will be back in Ireland very soon. It must be lovely there, so beautiful with all those green fields and sweet little horses. I really must visit on my next trip to London.’
    I didn’t point out that I had meant Scott’s apartment because I was sure Leela had known exactly what I’d meant.
    ‘Whatever,’ I said, and she tut-tutted at my rudeness, but stopped pushing to get Janet’s email address.
    I took the cross-town bus by myself back to Scott’s apartment and I put the lunch with Leela completely out of my mind as if it never happened. I can do that sometimes.

Chapter 12
    O n Wednesday morning, Kylie called as Scott and I were finishing our breakfast bagels. I was ignoring Ben as punishment for chewing the tip of my elephant Ellie’s trunk. As I chatted with Kylie, Ben gazed at me with sad, puppyish eyes, begging for cream cheese, and, I fondly imagined, forgiveness. Kylie was heading to Chelsea Piers with Greg Winters. It turns out that Kylie knows Greg. More than knows. They go to the same school and are good friends.
    ‘Greg plays for the River Rats. That’s a kids’ ice-hockey team. They have a game today so I’m going to go watch and then I have my figure skating lesson. You guys could watch my lesson and we can all eat lunch afterwards.’
    I hesitated. I had planned to help out Scott in the clinic.
    ‘I’ll ask Scott if he’ll be okay this morning without me.’
    Scott looked up from page six of the
New York Post
.
    ‘I will do my very best to manage adequately without you,’ he said solemnly. ‘Don’t stray from the Piers and I expect to see you back here no later than three. Have fun.’
    ‘Thanks a million!’ I replied.
    The Rivers Rats’ game was more exciting than I expected.Greg was amazing. He swept up and down the ice so quickly and scored a goal against the New Jersey team.
    ‘Woo-hoo!’ yelled Kylie. ‘Go Rats!’
    ‘There were no fights,’ Kylie said, a bit sadly, when the game ended.
    Greg, still glowing from victory and from a fresh batch of angry-looking mosquito bites, sat on the bench beside me to watch Kylie’s figure skating lesson. I was in awe. She was so graceful on the ice and she did some amazing spins.
    ‘That’s a double Axel,’ Greg told me.
    I thought she was