Free The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) by MJ Fletcher Page B

a while. I tried asking Edgar what he knew about my family history but he could only tell me what he’d read. He did know that my dad had been kicked out of the Society and that it was a real big deal. But other than that he didn’t know.
    He explained that each society group keeps records that are available only to their own members and that the Doorknob Society would have the ones on my family. That made me focus even harder so I could be declared for the Society and get access to the records.
    On days off from work, like today, I spend at the Cape Beanery. It’s down the block from Mission Way, a European style café with tables, couches and booths so you could lounge and enjoy yourself. It smelled of fresh caffeine and had bistro tables set out front for the summer. Val waved franticly as I walked up and I sat next to her. Edgar was tinkering with his goggles, attempting to get one of the gears that were stuck to move.
    “Why do you wear those silly things?” Val asked.
    “I need them to help me with my maps to see cracks in space time,” he answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
    “Whatever,” Val said rolling her eyes. “I got you a frozen coffee,” she said cheerily as she pushed it toward me.
    Frozen coffee was Val’s favorite and it seemed that she wanted it to be mine as well.
    “Thanks.” I took a quick sip off the straw knowing that Val would watch me like a hawk until I did. Happy that I had taken a drink she turned her attention back to Edgar.
    She continued on about his goggles. “They make you look like a weirdo.”
    He laughed. “I don’t care.”
    “People will make fun of you.”
    “Yet again, I don’t care,” he said not bothering to look at her or stop from tinkering with his goggles.
    I wasn’t sure if Edgar tolerated Val or enjoyed antagonizing her. But either way he was very good at both.
    “You’re so frustrating,” she said crossing her arms and her face twisting in a frustrated scowl.
    Little did I know that frustrating was about to become an all too frequently used word.
    “Edgar!”
    I heard the shout from across the street and Edgar’s head popped up from his work for the first time since I’d arrived. I turned to see a young man walking toward us. I didn’t know the guy. He had a mess of light brown hair that spiked in all directions. He wore a battered Rockadore’s concert t-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees and his pewter belt buckle had a skeleton key carved into the middle of it. He was our age or slightly older. But it was his eyes that really caught my attention. One was bright blue while the other was light gray. I had never seen anything like it before. I tried not to stare but it was difficult not to, so I had no choice but to turn my attention back to Edgar.
    “James,” Edgar said in greeting.
    “Do you have that map we talked about?” James asked.
    “I do, and the money?” Edgar asked patting his satchel full of parchments and maps he carted around with him.
    James dropped a couple of bills on the table. “My map.”
    With Edgar rifling through his satchel, James gave a glance at Val and me. His strange eyes didn’t linger on me, they settled on Val. I realized why when I turned her way. She looked like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.
    “Can I help you?” he asked with a smirk.
    “Um well...”
    “Well what?”
    “Um... I uh... sorry,” Val said and lowered her head down until her chin almost touched her chest.
    I got annoyed and when I get annoyed I can’t hide it. It shows on my face and the next thing you know I’m usually saying something that more often than not gets me into trouble. You think I would learn, but hey, Val may be irritating but she’s the closest thing I have to a girl friend and I couldn’t let his snarky attitude pass.
    He looked my way. “Problem?”
    “Yeah, do you treat everyone so rudely?”
    “Your friend can’t speak for herself?”
    I grinned.