Sweet Karoline Read Online Free Page A

through the living room to the center balcony. I stood against the wall, far from the edge, terrified I would see 'it' again if I looked over. Ethan and Officer Peters put on gloves and leaned over the wall, up on tiptoes, as though they too would hurl themselves into space.
    She looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone . The line from the song zigzagged through my head.
    Ethan looked around and back at me, his eyes searching and quizzical, and at first I was afraid that I'd sung out loud.
    " How did she make it over?" he asked, his voice catching in his throat, as though every time he looked at me he wanted to sob or cough. "This wall is pretty high and she's awfully short."
    I responded first to his use of the present tense for Karoline, then to the curiosity and suspicion that infused his words. My heart ached. My eyes filled with tears. Self-preservation and fear prevented me from breaking down and telling him everything. I forced my Ice Queen voice to reply.
    " How would I know that?"
    " Thought you might've guessed. Or maybe there was a step stool here and you moved it. Just one of those automatic things, ya know?"
    His deep blue eyes looked straight into mine. Where mine were icy and swirled with layers and depths that hid my feelings, his were soft and bright and forthright. He would never be able to hide any emotion. I don't know if that was the moment when I realized he was achingly, strikingly ugly. So ugly that the attractive parts of him—his eyes, his large lanky frame and thick curly, salt-and-pepper hair—acted as lightning rods of appreciation.
    I do know that Officer Peters scarcely registered with me, so perhaps it wasn't until later that I noticed the juxtaposition of Ethan's appearance.
    He is tall and wide-shouldered, narrow at the waist. But his nose is crooked, slightly off-center. His face is hound dog shape. His ragged thick eyebrows furl unexpectedly. His hair, a deep rich black with strands of silver, often pokes straight up from his head. Ironically, he has the same problem that I have. People pay unwanted attention, albeit for different reasons.
    " No. No step stool. No guess. I really don't know."
    I continued to stand by the wall, but my knees were suddenly very weak. I could feel my body shake from the inside. My face must have gone very pale, because Ethan was immediately at my side. He held my elbow and directed me into the apartment.
    When I shied away from the couch, he left me sitting at the dining room table with a cold glass of water nearby. I put my head down on the cool surface, my mind swirling. The voices of several dozen dinner parties echoed from the wood.
     
    "Religion has always caused more problems than it has solved," Daniel declared, swirling his wine and taking a large swallow. "Think of all the warfare that would have been avoided without religion."
    " You're just quoting John Lennon," Vicki sniped at him, a good-natured grin on her face.
    " No, seriously, think about it. Starting with the Crusades and up to the present, most wars have been among people of different religious beliefs."
    " I think war is just built into the male psyche," I said.
    I was being half playful, half serious, but the four men sitting around the table sat up straighter in their chairs and stared at me.
    " I really believe you'll find any excuse to pummel one another. Look at male children. They start off right from birth wanting to play guns and whack each other over the head. Religion doesn't really have anything to do with it."
    " Give me a break!" Joseph guffawed. "Males are no more warlike than females. Maybe we're a little more physical, but women find devious ways to annihilate one another. Females are just as likely to set off a nuclear device as males. They might not be as likely to go into all out hand-to-hand combat, but they would find a way to express their aggressive side if males weren't there to do it for them."
    " But getting back to religion…"
    And so the debates