Free Sidekick Returns by Auralee Wallace Page B

thought she had finally given all that up when she realised I wasn’t going away. So why was she giving me the cold shoulder now?
    I tapped my big toe against the gritty floor and squinted my eyes. I needed to talk this over with Bart. At least he still believed in the dream. I was supposed to go over to his store anyway because … because … oh my God! Because today was the best day ever! Today, I would get my cape.

Chapter 9
    â€˜There’s no cape.’ The bells on the door of Dreaming of Electric Sheep hadn’t even finished jangling when Bart greeted me with the news.
    â€˜What?’
    He shoved half a sandwich, which looked to be solely filled with bacon, into his mouth before answering. ‘There’s no cape,’ he mumbled.
    â€˜Why? Why is there no cape?’ I walked over to the counter that Bart was stationed behind. ‘There was going to be a cape.’ I poked the counter with my finger. ‘An awesome cape. A cape that you said you could trick out in ways no cape had ever been tricked out before.’
    â€˜That I did,’ Bart said, lowering his voice, sending me a warning dart with his eyes over to a teenage boy browsing the comic book section. The kid’s hands were holding a glossy edition, but his eyes were on us. ‘It’s not done.’
    â€˜What happened?’
    â€˜I don’t know.’ He brushed some crumbs off his chest. ‘Queenie hasn’t called me back.’
    I closed my eyes. Of course, Queenie was to be the seamstress in this operation. I shook my head back and forth. ‘I thought something was up with her.’
    â€˜Something?’ he snapped back. ‘What something? What did she tell you?’
    â€˜Nothing,’ I said, moving a hand over my face. ‘It was more of a feeling.’
    Bart cocked his head to the side and leaned forwards, staring awfully intently at me with his left eye. ‘What kind of a feeling?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ I stammered. ‘Just a feeling that maybe something wasn’t right between you two.’
    Bart furrowed his brow and leaned back. ‘Elaborate.’
    â€˜There’s nothing to elaborate on! It was just a feeling!’
    â€˜But something had to have given you this feeling. Something she said or did,’ he added quickly. ‘You’re not a psychic, you know.’
    â€˜I know!’ I crossed my arms over my chest.
    â€˜I thought she hadn’t called because …’ he trailed off, biting his lip. ‘But now there’s this feeling of yours.’
    I closed my eyes and shook my head. ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’
    â€˜But this doesn’t make sense. I will have you know I am a perfect gentleman when it comes to Queenie,’ he said with an angry nod. ‘Even when she brought out that cheese grater in bed, I—’
    â€˜No!’ I shouted, putting up my hand. ‘Wait, a cheese grater? Really? What do you do with—’
    â€˜At any rate,’ he said, cutting me off, ‘not that you asked, but I’m sure it’s nothing. It will all be fine.’ He got up and slowly walked around the counter towards the teenage boy with the comics. Wow, he was actually going to serve a customer. That was new. He really must be upset. Not, you know, whole life’s dream falling apart and not a cape in sight to make it better upset, like I was, but upset. ‘She may not want to admit it, but we have something real.’ Suddenly Bart reached into the kid’s backpack and pulled out a comic. He carefully smoothed its cover and placed it gently back on the rack. The kid’s panicked eyes darted about the store. Bart then picked up another comic, rolled it carefully into a tube, then whacked the kid on the head. ‘Get outta here,’ he said, pointing towards the door. ‘And don’t come back until you’ve got money and a decent-fitting pair of pants.’
    The