stride and she almost allowed herself to run into Coach Tar?s view
far too early. At the last moment she remembered to duck behind
some bushes, waiting several minutes before pretending to sprint
the last few yards. She still finished first, of course, and then had to
spend another half hour waiting for Lucas to finish up with practice.
If he was going to continue driving her to school in the morning,
she decided she was going to have to come up with another
plan for getting to work afterward.
As soon as Helen walked in the front door of the News Store,
Kate started following her around with a stunned look on her face.
?Wow!? Kate managed to say after a few moments of speechlessness.
?He?s like . . . wow! I could go to jail for even thinking what
I?m thinking.?
?Kate!? Helen exclaimed, throwing a balled-up napkin at her. ?I
thought you were a feminist!?
?What?s that got to do with anything??
?Aren?t you always preaching that there can be no equality if the
sexes objectify each other??
?Yeah, but damn!? Kate said, fanning herself with her hand.
?When I was your age all of the guys were trying to prove how antiestablishment
they were by out-uglying each other. I so got
robbed!?
?Keep on going and I?ll tell my dad he?s got competition,? Helen
teased, but the joke didn?t have the effect she thought it would. The
laughter went right out of Kate?s eyes and the smile melted off her
face.
?I don?t think it would make any difference to him,? she said, and
then abruptly changed the subject. ?But we?re not talking about
me. We?re talking about you and Lucas and the importance of
condoms.?