Fruit by Brian Francis Page A

cry? Or what if she was angry at me for not stopping her? I headed up the driveway and kept my eyes on the paper in my hand, like I was really interested in one of the stories.
    “What the fuck?” Daniela said. She wasn’t talking to me but said it loud enough for me to hear. “All these fuckin’ tomatoes have bugs in them.”
    “Oh, hi, Daniela,” I said, walking over to her. “You scared the crap out of me. I didn’t see you sitting there. What’s new?”
    “Not much,” Daniela said. She squished a small black bug between her fingers.
    “How did the pageant go?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
    “Fuckin’ stupid,” Daniela said and spit on a tomato. “The whole thing was fixed. Gina Marzapona won and only because she wore a dress that showed off her tits. Even my parents were cheering for her. What kind of fuckin’ loyalty is that? She sucked in the talent part, too. I mean, I only missed two notes on my song. Her, she puton a pair of rubber boots and sang ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ It was like listening to a cow trying to yodel. I think I went deaf in one ear. Who cares, anyway? It’s just a stupid contest. There’s no way you’d catch me dressing up as a fuckin’ elf at Christmas. I got too much self-respect for that.”
    Even though she was acting tough, I knew Daniela was upset. She had practised so hard and her parents had spent two hundred dollars on a dress and she believed in herself and it didn’t get her anywhere. She was still in her garage, cleaning off tomatoes.
    “Maybe you can enter again next year,” I said.
    “Hey, you only get this once,” Daniela said, pointing at herself. “If they can’t realize what a good Miss Basilico I would’ve made, fuck them. Just because I have more class than to show my tits to the world.”
    I watched Daniela wipe off another tomato and had an idea. I ripped the page with Gina Marzapona’s picture from the newspaper and poked it through a nail on the far wall of the garage.
    “What are you doing?” Daniela asked.
    “You know what you need to do, Daniela,” I said and pointed to the tomato she had in her hand. She looked down at it, back at me, and turned to the picture of Gina. Then I saw her eyes light up.
    “You’re fuckin’ evil,” she said and brought her arm back. “But I like that. Take that , bitch!” she yelled at Gina just as the tomato left her hand and smashed like a bomb into the wall. She missed the picture, so she took more time with the next tomato. It hit Gina right on her smiling face.
    “Fuckin’ great,” Daniela said and bent down to grabanother tomato. She whipped it at the wall, but it hit too low and splattered on the lawnmower.
    “Maybe you better stop,” I said. “You might break something and then your mom would have a fit. Besides, you already hit her.”
    “Yeah, okay,” Daniela said and wiped her forehead. She was breathing heavy. “That felt pretty fuckin’ good, though.”
    She sat back down on her stool. I had one more idea.
    “I’m going away out west next summer,” I told her, “and I might need someone to cover my paper route for a couple of weeks. Do you think you’d want to do it?”
    Daniela squinted. “How much cash you pull in?”
    “Usually about twenty dollars a week,” I said. “Sometimes, I make more with tips, but you have to be really nice to people.”
    “I could do that,” Daniela said. “I’m pretty fuckin’ nice when I want to be.”
    I bit my bottom lip and tried to smile. I told Daniela we’d talk about it later.
    “Forgive me, Mr. Hanlan,” I whispered and went on to deliver the rest of my papers.
    BEDTIME MOVIE #2
    I’m a contestant in a beauty pageant. My hair is blonde and curly and hangs down to the middle of my back. My name is Vanessa.
    I know that I’m going to win the pageant. That’s what everyone tells me.
    “You’re the prettiest,” Mr. Hanlan tells me. He’s one of the judges. “It’s a no-brainer.”
    I laugh and toss