Free The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages Page A

looked like maybe they were with Dewey, because she stopped too. She stood a few feet back, partially hidden by their bikes.
    â€œHi, Char-lie, ” said Betty. She was trying to sound like a movie star, all smooth and breathy, but Suze thought she just sounded dopey.
    â€œHey, kids, ” said Charlie.
    Betty frowned.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Joyce asked.
    â€œNone of your beeswax, ” said Jack.
    â€œ We’re going to the Tech PX for Cokes. You wanna come?” Betty said it as if it had been her idea all along.
    â€œNah. ” Charlie shook his head. “We got plans. ”
    â€œNo girls allowed, ” said Jack.
    â€œAnd Screwy Dewey doesn’t need to go to the PX, ” Joyce said. “Not as long as the dump’s open. ” She walked over and poked the alarm clock with one finger. “Why buy anything when you can pick through other people’s trash?”
    Dewey looked right at Joyce, but said nothing.
    â€œHey, leave the kid alone, ” said Charlie. He took a step forward, but the load of boards on his bike began to wobble and slide. He steadied it, then rattled some coins in his pocket. “C’mon, Dewey. Let’s go to the Trading Post. I babysat for Teller’s kid the other night, so I’m flush. I’ll blow you to a Coke. ” He gestured to the building up ahead on their right.
    Betty looked at Charlie, wide-eyed. “You’re buying her a Coke?”
    â€œShe’s a good egg, ” he said. He glared at Betty for a moment, then gave his bike a shove and started walking. Jack followed, and after a moment, so did Dewey.
    â€œ Rotten egg’s more like it, ” said Suze loudly, so the other girls would know she was on their side. She waited for a reaction, and when none came, said, "C’mon, the heck with them. Let’s get those Cokes. ” She gave Joyce’s arm a buddy punch, not very hard at all.
    â€œOw. ” Joyce frowned, rubbing her arm. She watched the rolling trio disappear around the corner of a building. “Yeah, okay. ”
    To get to the Tech PX, they had to take the road between the post office and the Commissary, then turn down another road that ran along the side of the Tech Area, with its high, barbed-wire fence. The T had its own gate and was off-limits for anyone without a white badge. Both Suze’s parents worked inside.
    â€œHey, how ’bout that shortcut?” she said, as if she’d just remembered it. “The boys told me about it the other day. They said it’s much faster. ” She looked at Betty to see if she was impressed.
    â€œWhat kind of shortcut? You can’t get through anywhere. It’s all fences, ” said Betty.
    "The boys do, ” said Suze. “C’mon. ” She stepped off the road and onto the hard-packed dirt beside it. The only real difference between the two surfaces was that the dirt of the road was raked and had tire marks, and the ground was webbed with cracks where the flat plane of mud had dried.
    The other girls looked at Betty, who shrugged. “I guess so. ”
    Suze led them down a narrow strip between the white clapboard post office and the long, two-story Gamma Building, which was painted green and had a barbed-wire fence around it.
    â€œThat’s my dad’s new office, ” said Joyce. “He calls it the Gadget Building, because that’s what they’re making. He says they had to give it the Greek letter, gamma, because the Tech Area already had a G Building. ” She sounded very important.
    â€œI knew that, ” said Suze. Everyone’s father was working on some part of the gadget, whatever it was. Some kind of big gun, she figured. Building it was going to end the war, which was why they were all here. She hadn’t known about the Greek part, though. She didn’t even know Greek had a different alphabet. Daddy probably did. She’d ask him at dinner.
    She walked along