Dance For The Devil by S. Kodejs Page B

keep his voice level. “Amy, you are going to have to start behaving and start being a viable member of this family or I’m going to send you away to an all-g irls school.” He rummaged in his desk. “See this brochure? It’s for a school called The Elizabethan House. It’s an excellent school and they specialize in difficult teenage girls. I don’t want to send you there, Amy, but if you continue to do crazy things like skipping school and lying and carving things in your arm, then I have no choice.”
    “I hate you,” she screamed, contempt dripping from her narrowed eyes. “I hate your guts. Got that?” Then she ran from the room, slamming the door behind her. He could hear the pounding footsteps through the house, ending with the slamming of her bedroom door. He knew from experience he wouldn’t be seeing her again that day, not even for dinner. He crumpled the brochure and tossed it in t he garbage. It had been a bluff. Gil had given him the brochure weeks ago, saying he tried this strategy on Jason with brilliant results. Jake had sworn he wouldn’t resort to something so deceitful, yet he’d hung onto the brochure and, in desperation, used it. Such a school didn’t even exist – Elizabethan House was a retirement home. But it looked appropriately spooky.
    He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. He had acted as immature as Amy, and he regretted it. For the millionth time he wondered why being a parent was so goddamned hard.
    **
    Gil greeted him as though nothing untoward had happened. Jake tossed his briefcase on his desk, loosened his tie, and sat back in his chair, eyeing his boss. After his battle with Amy last night, this should be a piece of cake.
    He prepared his attack. “About those changes...”
    “Oh, yeah,” Gil said, “I wanted to talk to you about that. I’ve been doing some thinking, and you are absolutely right. The new changes make the game too violent.”
    Jake’s eyebrows shot up. Gil continued, “The nuclear explosion was a bit much. Nuclear’s dead, anyway. The Cold War is over; kids today don’t care about atom bombs. Also, I checked with legal and the graphi cs would earn us a Restricted rating, which cuts our market potential in half. Too much gore, so we’re eliminating some of that.”
    “Some?”
    “We’ll keep some of the changes, of course. Here’s a revised version. Harris Bentall stayed up all night modifying the alterations. Tell me what you think.”
    It was a bone, albeit a small one. This was Gil’s effort at reconciliation, however meager. Jake weighed his options quickly, then nodded abruptly, his face remaining impassive. Gil flashed a charismatic, handsome smile, turning to leave. “Oh, one other thing,” he mentioned. “We’re throwing a shindig on Halloween at the homestead. No costumes, thank God. Same old crowd, but I invited some potential buyers from Hong Kong. Kids can come, of course, the Asians love families. Say, around seven-ish?”
    “I’m not sure I can make it.”
    “Come on, Jake, don’t play sour grapes. It’s unbecoming.”
    “Thanks for the tip, but it’s not that.”
    “Then what? Come on, buddy, getting info out of you is like pulling teeth.”
    Jake hesitated. He was still furious with Gil and he didn’t feel like sharing tidbits of his personal life.
    “Is it Amy?” Gil questioned. “Come on, tell Uncle Gilly what she’s done.”
    “She’s being... difficult. I grounded her.”
    “Oh, is that all? Hellish being a father isn’t it? What did she do? Get caught stealing? Smoking dope?”
    “No, of course not. She... she skipped school yesterday, lied about it and came home with a pentagram carved in her arm.”
    “Oh, that,” Gil said, waving his arm dismissively. “That’s nothing, all the kids are doing it right now. It’s a teen thing, you know, peer pressure, they do it to be cool. Jason’s done it himself a few times. As for the other...” Gil shrugged. “Kids have been cutting school ever