Deni turned sideways to slip through the opening, and Doug followed.
The power was out inside, too, but hundreds of people milled about.The ceiling had skylights every few feet, which allowed some natural light into the otherwise dark building. Lines of thirty or more people waited at the cash registers, and the clerks looked frazzled and stressed as they tried to take money with no registers working.
“Cash or checks only!” a worker yelled over the people. “Our credit card machines don’t work! Cash or checks, please!”
Doug pulled his wallet out and checked his cash. Twenty bucks—not nearly enough to pay for a bicycle. He looked toward the ATM machine. A crowd gathered around it, and a man was kicking it and cursing. Clearly, it was dead, too.
“Deni, we’ve got a problem. I don’t have enough money.”
She grunted. “Don’t you have checks?”
“No, your mother has the checkbook. All I carry is my debit card.”
Deni dug through her purse. “I have checks for the account I just opened in Washington, if they’ll take an out-of-state check. There’s not
much in my account, but we can transfer some money into it before the check clears.”
“Great. Somehow we’ll convince them to take it. Come on.”
Deni ran behind her father, her bare feet slapping on the tile floor. “I’m going to the shoe section.”
“Okay, I’m in the bikes.”
Most of the bikes had already been taken. Doug grabbed the first one he came to, a red ten-speed woman’s bike.
Deni came running up with a box of tennis shoes in one hand, and her high heels in the other.
“I can only get one,” Doug said. “We’ll both have to ride this one.”
She huffed out a sigh. “I can’t believe this hick town can’t do better than this in an emergency.”
There she went again, putting her hometown down. “I doubt they ever imagined this happening. And Birmingham’s not a hick town. You’re a product of it and you’re no hick.”
“I had it educated out of me.”
Her typical response. He never should have agreed to send her to Georgetown University to study broadcast journalism. She’d developed such arrogance there that she was sometimes difficult to endure.
He blamed it on the boyfriend.
After waiting forty-five minutes in the check-out line and bribing the clerk with a Rolex, they finally rolled the bike out into sunlight. He assembled the backseat and put it on, using a dime as a screwdriver. Tightening the screws the best he could, he got the seat on and shook it to make sure it would support Deni.
Something rammed him from behind, knocking him over with the bike. As the bike clattered to the ground, his knee skidded on the pavement, shredding his skin. The attacker scrambled to get the bike out from under Doug, but Doug held on and grabbed the man by the collar. Slinging his assailant back, he became eight years old again, reeling with the sense of righteous indignation over the school bully’s unwarranted attack, vicious with the need to right a wrong.
He got his footing as the man came at him, trying to mount the bike. Doug swung and hit the man in the chin with the heel of his hand, knocking the bike out from under him.
The man fought to keep the bike, but suddenly Deni was there, swinging the bag with her bottled water, knocking him in the head.
It stunned him enough that he lost his grip.
“Get on, Deni!”
She jumped on back.
“Hold on!” Doug took off, rolling slowly at first, then, not looking back, he managed to pull away from the would-be thief and across the parking lot.
“Way to go, Dad!” Deni slapped him on the back. “Wooo-hooo!”
“Hush, Deni.” He was not in the mood for gloating or theatrics. This was serious. He had fought like a barroom brawler over a stupid bicycle he wouldn’t have paid a quarter for two hours ago. He wasn’t proud of that fact.
But worst of all, he feared this was only the beginning. He couldn’t shake the sense nagging at him that things were going to get worse.
A lot worse.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
With the Author: Your comments will be forwarded to
the author when you send them to
[email protected].
With Zondervan: Submit your review of this book
by writing to
[email protected].
Free Online Resources at
www.zondervan.com/hello
Zondervan AuthorTracker: Be notified whenever your favorite authors publish new books, go on tour, or post an update about what’s happening in their lives.
Daily Bible Verses and Devotions: Enrich your life with daily Bible verses or devotions that help you start every morning focused on God.
Free Email Publications: Sign up for newsletters on fiction, Christian living, church ministry, parenting, and more.
Zondervan Bible Search: Find and compare Bible passages in a variety of translations at www.zondervanbiblesearch.com.
Other Benefits: Register yourself to receive online benefits like coupons and special offers, or to participate in research.
Terri Blackstock, Presumption of Guilt
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends