Free Subway Love by Nora Raleigh Baskin Page B

tested can’t be real,” Zan said. She poked her head into the paper bag, then her hand, and rummaged around. “Didn’t we get bubble gum?”
    “Where did you hear that? Anyway, jeez, I don’t love him. I don’t even know him.”
    “Well, maybe
he
loves
you.
So he’s testing you.” Zan found the gum.
    “He doesn’t love me. And I don’t want to be tested. It was just really strange — that’s all I can say.”
    They walked up the front steps of the trailer where Zan lived with her older sister, Karen — who, like Laura’s brother, was absent most of the time, either physically or otherwise — her mom, and her stepdad.
    “Nobody’s home,” Zan said. She pulled open the front door. “Come on.”
    Laura knew trailers weren’t exactly supposed to be luxurious, but she liked it. It was compact and cozy. Everything had a place or a little pocket to slip into. The beds were attached to the floor, with drawers hidden underneath. Tables popped out of panels in the wall. Doors slid to the side and disappeared.
    The living room wall-to-wall carpet was covered with a large shaggy rug. Laura plopped down on the couch. “Where is everyone?”
    Zan turned on the television and fiddled with the antenna until a fuzzy picture appeared.
    “My mom is at work. I have no idea where Karen is, but who cares?” she said. “And let’s hope Pete never comes home.” She slouched down on the shaggy rug and rested her head against the couch. Another thing that brought Zan and Laura together, or kept them together, was their mutual hatred for their stepfathers (in Laura’s case, her mother’s boyfriend).
    “So, where were you going to go with him? Starburst?”
    “Star
bucks
. I’m sure of it. I listened carefully.”
    “Well, let’s call that number, then, like in the movie
Desk Set,
and find out what Starburst is.” Zan sat upright.
    “Starbucks.”
    “Whatever. Let’s call.”
    “
Desk Set
’s a movie. That’s not real.”
    “It is. That’s what librarians do. They can answer any question you ask them. It’s their job; they have to.” Zan got to her feet. “Starbucks. It sounds like something futuristic, like
Lost in Space.
Or
Star Trek.
Do you think it’s like something from
Star Trek
? Ooh, I love Dr. Spock.”
    “
Mr.
Spock. Dr. Spock is the baby doctor.”
    “Fine, let’s call. The phone is in my mom’s bedroom.”
    “We can’t. That library from the movie was in New York City, remember? You can’t make a long-distance call in the middle of the week,” Laura said.
    They ended up calling the Woodstock Public Library reference desk. Laura waited on the phone for ten minutes before she heard the librarian return and pick the phone up again. She sounded out of breath.
    “From
Moby-Dick
?”
    “From what?” Laura asked into the phone.
    “Starbuck. From
Moby-Dick.
”
    “No, I don’t think so. I think it has something to do with coffee. In New York City.”
    “Let me check again.”
    It was quiet on the other end, and then the librarian came back on the line.
    “I’m afraid I can’t find any reference to anything called Starbucks in New York City. Are you sure you have the spelling right?”
    “Yes,” Laura said, although of course she wasn’t.
    “The only thing I can find is a small coffee-bean company in Seattle, Washington, on 2000 Western Avenue. Does that help at all?”
    “No, but thanks,” Laura said, and she hung up the phone.
    SOMEHOW Jonas wasn’t that surprised when Laura vanished as soon as they stepped off the train. It wasn’t as if he was expecting it, but it didn’t feel that out of the ordinary anymore. There was something so unordinary about being on that subway, the way it looked, the way people were dressed — kind of grungy, old-fashioned maybe. Of course, he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings. Mostly to Laura. The doors had closed behind him, the crowd dispersed, and she was gone.
    Jonas slumped down on a bench facing the tracks and just