Harry’s been calling me blue blood ever since he and the woman riding shotgun took me against my will from my parents’ house, drove me to the airport, and flew me to upstate New York. What’s your father’s business that he can afford a place like that? That was some spread we picked you up from, blue blood. When my parents hired you, did they know that physical abuse was part of the deal? I ask.įrom the movement of his head, I sense that Harry is looking at me in the rearview mirror, but his eyes are hidden in the shadow from the rim of his hat. With my hands joined by the handcuffs in the small of my back, there is no way to get comfortable, no way to relieve the pressure that has cut off the circulation. Now and then sudsy spray splashes against the windshield, and the wipers wash away dust and splattered bug carcasses. Rocks kicked up by the tires clank against the car’s underside. Except for the short stretch of dusty, reddish dirt road illuminated by the headlights, it is as black as blindness outside. The car bounces and lurches through the dark. Would you at least tell me where you’re taking me? I ask. I feel nothing but tingling from my wrists down. My hands, locked behind me for the past two hours, have gone numb. From my seat in the back of the dark car I can only see the silhouette of his shoulders and thick neck beneath the wide-brimmed hat. Harry wears a cowboy hat and speaks with a western accent. If you’re sorry, then why don’t you help me? Maybe you could loosen the handcuffs? I ask. Your parents sent you to Lake Harmony because they love you.

Boot camp by todd strasser