chapter four
CHARLIE
I wake up on Sunday morning feeling bruised and achy. Working at Karen’s is ten times more strenuous than installing carburetor fluid
without a lift.
I can bend over the open hood of a truck for hours and not feel the burn. I can wheel myself beneath the innards of low lying
Suburban and not blink an eyelash.
But four hours in the café at rush hour? Ha! I wake up with tears streaming down my face.
“Charlie, you coming to the Gym today?” Dad knocks on my door.
I groan and burrow deeper into my blanket fort.
His knuckles rap against my door again and I can no longer ignore him.
“Yeah, dad!”
“Well, it’s almost ten-thirty. You should probably start getting ready if you want to be early!”
“Thanks!”
I rub my eyes and stretch before sitting upright. Sunlight stre
