Satch & Me by Dan Gutman Page A

counterfeit dough and you think I’m gonna take your check ? I accept cash, son. Cold, hard cash. If you ain’t got none, I got a lotta dishes in the back that need washin’.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t by any chance have an ATM here, would you?” I asked.
    â€œA what ?”
    Laverne’s dad grabbed Flip by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen. I followed. There was a huge sink back there. It looked more like a bathtub. Dishes and pots were piled up higher than my head.
    â€œStart scrubbin’,” Laverne’s father said. “And they better be squeaky clean, or you’re gonna have to do ’em all over again.”
    Laverne’s dad went back to his grill on the other side of the kitchen. That’s when I got a great idea. We didn’t have to wash these stupid dishes. We could just take my new pack of baseball cards and get out of there. Go home. Back to our own century. We didn’t need this aggravation.
    But Flip wouldn’t go for it. When I told him about my brainstorm, he said that wouldn’t be right. We had ordered seventeen dollars’ worth of food, and we had to pay for seventeen dollars’ worth of food. If we didn’t have the money, the right thing to do would be to wash the dishes.
    â€œWe had the money!” I said. “He ripped up my twenty-dollar bill!”
    â€œI’ll wash,” Flip said. “You dry.”
    That’s one thing about Flip that drives me crazy. He always has to do the right thing.
    Flip put on a pair of yellow rubber gloves and grabbed a big hunk of steel wool. I picked up a towel. We got to work.
    It felt like it took a year, but it was probably only an hour or two. I felt sorry for Flip. The pots were caked with food and grease and crud and who knows what. It was disgusting. I made a mental note to be sure to go to college so I wouldn’t have to grow up and wash dishes for a living.
    We were about halfway done when Laverne suddenly poked her head into the sink area. She looked around to make sure her father didn’t see her. Flip tried to fix his hair, but he had soap on his rubber glove and all he accomplished was putting some bubbles on the top of his head. He was pretty funny looking.
    â€œI’m sorry about Daddy,” Laverne said. “Sometimes he’s…”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Flip said. “It’s not your fault.”
    â€œListen,” Laverne said, “I just wanted to tell you boys that was a kind thing you did out there for the colored men on the bus.”
    â€œIt was all Flip’s idea,” I said.
    â€œWell, I think you’re very brave,” she said, reaching up and brushing some bubbles off Flip’s hair.
    â€œIt was nothin’,” Flip said. His face was all red.
    â€œAre you gonna be in town for a while?” Laverne asked.
    â€œNah,” Flip said. “We’re heading for Pittsburgh.”
    â€œPittsburgh!” she said. “Lordy, that’s five hundred miles away! I wish I could see a big city like Pittsburgh.”
    â€œWe’re going to see Satchel Paige pitch,” I added.
    â€œWhere’s Laverne?” her father suddenly shouted from the dining room. “We got customers waitin’ out here!”
    Laverne quickly reached into her apron and pulled out a handful of change.
    â€œHere,” she said, pressing the coins into Flip’s hand. “You’ll need money to get to Pittsburgh.”
    Laverne scurried away. Flip put the money in his pocket and grabbed the next pot to wash.
    â€œFlip!” I said. “She’s crazy about you! That’s her tip money. You gotta ask her out, man!”
    â€œStosh, that girl is seventeen years old,” Flip said. “I’m seventy-two!”
    â€œNot here you aren’t!” I insisted. “If you don’t ask her out, I’m going to come back in five years when I’m eighteen and ask her out