Résumé With Monsters Read Online Free

driven me crazy."
     
    " Hmmmmmm ," Lily said. "Your Amelia says quite a lot when given the opportunity."
     
    Philip shrugged.
     
    "How do you feel about jobs?" Lily asked.
     
    "What do you mean?"
     
    "Have you ever had a job that you liked?"
     
    Philip frowned. "No, I guess not."
     
    "Tell me about your first job," Lily said.
     
    Philip looked up. "Well, I had chores and stuff for my allowance, but I guess my first real job was mowing our neighbor's lawn. That was Mr. Bluett . He was a very weird dude, a fat, pear- shaped guy who wore these big, oversized shorts. He was an old guy with a lot of money. He told jokes, lots of jokes, one right after another." "So how was the job?" "At first it was just fine." "And later."
     
    "Later it wasn't so good." "Tell me about it."
     

     

3.
     

     
    The lawnmower had stalled out in a huff of blue smoke, vomiting clumps of cut grass. Philip yanked on the pull rope, and the motor coughed like a fat man choking on cigar smoke.
     
    Great, just great.
     
    It had to be a hundred degrees out, August, not a cloud in the sky, the sun a bright, unfocused blur. Philip itched all over, tortured by the gritty paste of grass and dust that coated his skin.
     
    Philip pulled on the cord again, and the engine caught. The mower leapt forward, an undisciplined dog tugging on its leash.
     
    Mr. Bluett's house was a big white mansion two streets over from the house Philip lived in with his mother and the ghost of his father and the ancient, ever-watching Elder Ones. The lawn was a long, rolling expanse, green even in the last sere days of summer.
     
    Philip finished mowing the lawn and was emptying another bag of grass clippings into a trash can when Mr. Bluett came around the corner of the house.
     
    "Wicked hot, isn't it, Philip?" he said.
     
    "Yes sir," Philip said.
     
    "You don't have to call me sir," Mr. Bluett said. "The queen didn't make me a knight." He laughed. He was a soft old guy with boiled-red flesh and thin, reddish hair that rippled tightly over his skull. He was rich, having made a fortune in real estate. He wore a shirt decorated with colored fish and big, floppy blue shorts and flip-flops.
     
    "Thirsty?" Mr. Bluett asked.
     
    "Yes s—Yes."
     
    Mr. Bluett nodded. "Come on. I got iced tea."
     
    Mr. Bluett put an arm on Philip's shoulder and led him around the house to the swimming pool in the back.
     
    A big pitcher of iced tea rested on a white patio table.
     
    The ice rattled as Bluett filled a large plastic tumbler and handed it to Philip.
     
    "Looks good," Bluett said, surveying the lawn with his hands on his hips. "You do good work, Philip. How old are you?"
     
    "Thirteen," Philip said.
     
    "A teenager! Well, damn. I was a teenager once myself, although you might find that hard to believe. You getting any pussy?"
     
    Philip said nothing. He was feeling uncomfortable. Adults didn't say "pussy." Kids like Ronnie Hargrave and rowdy Butch Walker said "pussy." The iced tea made Philip's stomach hurt, and Mr. Bluett was leaning forward, his face oily with suntan lotion, his breath sour and fleshy beneath a coating of minty mouthwash.
     
    "Maybe you ain't worked up to pussy yet," Bluett said. His voice sounded different now, shifting the way a grown-up's voice will. "You might be practicing with your buddies first. You know, sucking each other's dicks."
     
    Philip shook his head, frowning. "I have to be getting home," he said.
     
    "Hey," Bluett said, standing up, "it ain't no big deal. Let me pay you for that lawn. You done a fine job."
     
    Bluett pulled out his wallet and thumbed through the bills. He frowned. "Looks like I got nothing but a twenty. Well damn. Hey, you been mowing my lawn all summer, call it a bonus."
     
    He handed the twenty to Philip.
     
    Twenty dollars! Great!
     
    "Thank you," Philip said.
     
    "Hey, you're a good kid." Bluett reached forward and ruffled Philip's head. Then, suddenly, he leaned forward, cupped the back of Philip's head