Читать книгу Two Much Alike - Pamela Bauer, Pamela Bauer - Страница 7

“DID YOU GET IT?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t easy.” Alex Harper unzipped his backpack and pulled out a photograph. “My mom threw out most of his pictures. I found this one in a box in the basement.” He gave the photo to Josh Gallivan, who studied it closely.

“He’s a sailor?”

“He was a sailor. Now he’s a bum.”

Josh glanced at the photograph, then at Alex and then back at the photo again. “He looks normal.”

“He’s not. I’m just glad I don’t look like him. I don’t, do I?” Alex’s tone dared his best friend to disagree.

Again Josh looked from the picture to Alex. “Naw, you don’t look like him at all. He could be a total stranger.”

He was a total stranger as far as Alex was concerned. With each passing birthday, Alex’s memories of his father had dimmed, until now—at the age of ten—his father was simply a face on a piece of paper, a man who smelled like cigars and didn’t like to get his pants wrinkled.

As Josh slipped the photo into the scanner, Alex turned his attention to the monitor, waiting for the image to appear on the screen. He wasn’t nervous, yet his stomach felt funny—the same way it had that time he’d fallen out of the big oak tree in the backyard.

“Here it comes,” Josh said, as the image appeared on the screen in startling clarity. “Okay, we’ve got it. Now all we have to do is cut and paste it to your poster.” Josh moved the mouse with a familiarity Alex envied. Known as the biggest computer geek in the fourth grade, Josh knew more about computers than some adults. Most kids thought it was because his dad was a programmer and Josh had had his very own computer since he was big enough to sit on a chair. Alex, however, knew the real reason. Josh was super smart.

“Done,” he boasted proudly.

Alex gazed at the monitor. At the top of the screen in large letters were the words “Have You Seen This Man?” Occupying the rest of the space was the picture Josh had just scanned. A shiver rippled through Alex.

“What happened to the stuff at the bottom?” he asked.

“It’s there.” Josh scrolled down the page until the message typed in capital letters appeared. Then he read aloud, “His name is Dennis Harper. He’s a deadbeat who deserted his family. If you see him, call me immediately.” He rattled off the digits of Alex’s phone number. “Well?”

“It’s okay…I guess,” Alex said tentatively.

“I think it’d be better if we put your picture on it, too,” Josh suggested. “My mom’s in advertising and she says that if you want to get people’s attention, you should use pictures of kids. You do want people to take a good look at the poster, don’t you?”

Alex thought for a moment. “You really think it would help?”

Josh nodded, then reached across his desk to a cork bulletin board where push pins held half a dozen wallet-size photos in place. He grabbed the one Alex had given him at the start of the school year and placed it in the scanner.

A few moments later, he said, “Now we’ll print.” He hit another key and almost immediately a paper emerged from the printer. He pulled it from the tray and handed it to Alex. “What do you think?”

Alex thought it was weird to see his picture on the same paper as his father’s. A deadbeat dad and a searching son. They weren’t exactly the typical father and son.

Not that Alex cared. He didn’t need a dad and he didn’t care if his ever came back. He just wanted to find him so the judge could make his dad pay what he owed his mom. Then she wouldn’t have to work so much. If she had someone to help pay the bills, she could take some time off to spend with him and his sister and brother this summer. They might even get to take a vacation. And get some new clothes instead of having to wear the stuff his mom found at garage sales. Maybe he could even get his own computer and show the other kids at school that he was just as smart as Josh.

“Well, is it okay or isn’t it?” Josh asked. “You want me to make copies?”

With his father’s face staring at him, Alex found that suddenly he wasn’t sure. For so long he’d wanted to find his dad, yet now that there was a possibility he might just do it, he found the prospect a little scary. What if his mom was right? What if they were better off without Dennis Harper in their lives?

He looked at Josh. “This isn’t a dumb idea, is it?”

“Uh-uh. When Billy Carson’s cat was missing, he found it by printing up posters and putting them all over town. If it’ll work for a cat, why wouldn’t it work for a person?”

Alex realized that Josh thought he was questioning the wisdom of printing the posters, not his attempt to locate his father. It shouldn’t have surprised him that his friend wouldn’t understand why he might have second thoughts. After all, Josh had a father. It was true his parents were divorced, but his dad came every other weekend to pick him up and take him places. He also played catch with Josh and helped coach his little league team. He hadn’t abandoned his kids after the divorce. He wasn’t anything like Dennis Harper.

“Do you want me to print them or not?” Josh asked a bit impatiently, when Alex still hadn’t given him the go-ahead.

Alex hesitated only a moment before saying, “Yeah. It’s about time somebody found that dead-beat.”