Free Crusader by Edward Bloor Page A

soon came walking up the mallway from the north side. He was carrying some weird type of vacuum cleaner. Kristin greeted him with, "What's that, Daddy?"
    "It's a shampooer. I rented it from Lombardo. I'm having nightmares about what's living in this carpet." Uncle Frank looked around the arcade, probably for Karl. He told Kristin, "I want Karl and the two stooges to do this, but I want you to supervise them. Okay?"
    "Okay, Daddy."
    "The two can move the furniture. Make sure they don't break anything." He studied the machine. "Karl can run the shampooer." He looked over at me and said, with a touch of pride, "Karl can run any machine." He looked back at Kristin. "But make sure he's thinking clear."
    "Okay."
    Devin walked by and stopped to look at Crusader. Uncle Frank said, so only Kristin and I could hear, "Look at that dirtbag, will you?"
    Kristin agreed, "Gross."
    "Somebody needs to tell that guy it's two more months till Halloween."
    I told him, "He was in here last night with the goths. They were doing Vampire's Feast."
    Uncle Frank told Kristin, "You call me if he even looks at you."
    I followed Uncle Frank to the back, where he deposited the shampooer. Dad was leaning against a carton, eating a meatball sub. Uncle Frank didn't look at him, but he did ask, "So how did it go yesterday?"
    Dad answered, "Not bad. A little slow."
    "Slow? Then I hope you sent the useless twins home."
    "No. I let em stay."
    "You let them sit around on their butts all day?"
    Dad winked at me. "I like to keep them around in case we get busy. You have good days and bad days in this business. You never know which one it is until the day is over."
    Uncle Frank stepped into the open bathroom and started washing his hands.
    I handed Dad my revised feature. He asked, "What's this, honey?"
    "This is an improved version of my feature about the turtles. Mr. Herman's going to put it into my portfolio."
    "Great. I'll read it right now. What's your portfolio?"
    "It's a folder where you keep samples of your schoolwork. Your best work."
    "Uh-huh. Now, tell me, is that something you can send to a college with your application?"
    "I don't know. I guess so. If they want it."
    Dad addressed Uncle Frank. "Roberta's going to the University of South Florida for a degree in journalism. It's all set. We bought that prepaid college plan for her when she was little. Now all she has to do is get decent grades." He looked at me. "Like she has been."
    Uncle Frank said, "Good. That's good. I looked into that plan for Kristin, but we weren't even Florida residents till last year, not officially. So it wasn't worth it."
    Dad said, "You gotta buy it when they're young. Roberta was only eight when Mary Ann got hers."
    I couldn't believe my ears. Dad and Uncle Frank were having a real conversation! Uncle Frank asked him, "How much a month was it?"
    "We didn't do the monthly plan. We plopped the whole thing down at once. That's the cheapest way to go. You pay five grand one time. It was all the money we had in the world. But now, ten years later, she's got a free ride to college." Dad looked
away. He always gets a sad look when he tells that prepaid college plan story.
    Hawg, Ironman, and Karl arrived right at seven o'clock. Kristin put them to work with the rug shampooer. Hawg dragged the black platforms aside, Ironman picked up the trash under them, and Karl followed with the rug shampooer. It was a very efficient operation. It was also a very noisy operation, and the place looked like it was turned upside-down. Not too many customers ventured in.
    Nina stopped by at about seven-thirty. Nina is Kristin's best friend. She's as glamorous as Kristin is, only in a darker, Latin kind of way. They both attend Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. It's a private school, mostly for rich Catholic girls. Nina is both rich and Catholic. Kristin is neither. Uncle Frank sent her there after he visited Memorial High and saw what the kids there look like.
    Nina doesn't need to work. Her father is Dr.