Cora and Atom

Chapter 1

Cora

Cora jumped slightly at the sound of the telephone ringing. Her mind had been deeply occupied by a book she was reading and the loud ring tone coming from her phone brought her back into the real world like she had been slapped with a wet fish. She already knew who was calling from the ring tone, but a glance at the caller ID confirmed it and she was overjoyed over getting the call.

"Ellie!", Cora picked up the phone, "How are you sis?"

Ellie Smith was Cora's older sister. The two girls had shared a bedroom for almost all of Cora's life. Cora was now a 'tweenager' about to finish the sixth grade, and Ellie had just turned nineteen. They had been like two peas in a pod, one almost never going anywhere without the other. Ellie was now on the other side of the country attending college at UC Berkeley. The girls grandmother on their mother's side lived in the San Francisco area which probably played a strong role in her selecting that school from a short list of five others that she had been accepted to. Cora missed Ellie very much and was bummed out that she had decided to stay with their grandmother over the summer. Ellie probably had met a new boy friend at school Cora figured.

"So how is it going with that cute kid?", Ellie asked.

"What cute kid?", Cora played dumb to tease her sister.

"Come on, admit it sis." Ellie nudged, "You're having your first serious crush with this guy, aren't you?".

Cora gave in. "Yeah sis, the little guy is real nice. He's rather short for his age, but he is very mature. He's nothing like most of the other curmudgeons in my classes. Atom is like a knight in shinning armor. Did I tell you that he flattened this bully who's been stalking me along with two of his older henchmen, all at the same time!?"

"Sounds like a real dream boat", Ellie agreed.

Cora sighed, and then changed the subject.

"Please come home for the summer Ellie! I really miss you."

"We've been though that already sis", Ellie replied. "I'm staying with Gram so I can take a class for extra credit over the summer. She's only a short ride from the beach, and Freddie".

"HA! I knew there was a new boy friend behind things. Bet that class is something boring anyway."

"Not so!", Ellie defended herself. "Though I might have squeezed it in next semester if it wasn't available over the summer".

"You mean if Freddie wasn't available over the summer", Cora corrected her.

"Well that too", Ellie cooed.

"How's the weather back in Brooklyn?", Ellie asked. "Have you made use of my tool set yet?"

Ellie had taught herself how to pick common locks. She had purchased several sets of lock picks and soon became quite good using them. She then showed her little sister how to do the trick. All for a single devious purpose. On warm sunny days they'd climb the stairs up to the roof of the apartment building and Ellie would pick the lock to the roof. There was an alarm on the door leading to the roof at the top of the stairs which could be defeated with a key. Once the girls had gained egress to the top of the building they'd set up their lounge chairs on their 'tar beach' to sunbathe. They'd usually remove their bikini tops and soak up the sun topless, but sometimes they'd dare to sunbath completely nude. Nobody ever caught them in the three years they'd been doing it.

"It hasn't been warm enough yet, but the forecast for this weekend is nice", Cora told her sister. "I wish I had a friend to join me, it wouldn't be the same without you".

"I know you're lonely sis.", Ellie said with some guilt. "Listen, I'll try and fly back home for a week's stay. Freddie has a camping trip he's already committed to and I declined his offer to hike into mosquito infested woods. I'll probably leave him to the bears and skunks for a week and spend the time with you, OK?"

"What about your class?", Cora teased.

"It's only a few weeks long. Freddie's trip is after the finals. No problem"

"Are Mom and Dad in?", Ellie asked.

"You know they're not. If you wanted to talk to them you'd have called an hour or two later. Dad is at his Friday night poker game and mom is downstairs doing a load of laundry. The same routine EVERY Friday evening. I'm always at home with a good book."

"Well tell them I called and that I love them", Ellie said.

"OK. Bye Sis!"

"Bye".

"Click. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (dial tone)".

Cora hung up the phone and walked over to her desk. She opened the top draw and quickly found the lock picks along with the master pad locks she practiced on.

"Well let's see if I've lost my touch since last summer".

Cora inserted the torsion lever into the lock and then slid a pick into the key hole and felt along for the first tumbler. "There got one", she grinned. The second one took a bit longer, and she quickly had the third and forth in place. Carefully she rotated the torsion level being ready to stop if there was any binding so as not to break any of the fragile tools. The cylinder rotated through one hundred eighty degrees and the clasp of the lock popped up.

"I've still got the knack!", Cora smiled.

Mike

Mick Finkle had been used to being the center of attraction in elementary school. He knew all of the best dirty jokes which he'd repeat over and over again getting laughs from his classmates every time. Mike's parents spoiled him rotten. He was given a large allowance which he spent on candy, comics, and various 'black market' items such as cigarettes. He had a questionable talent of being able to fart almost at will that he thought was rather amusing. The boys thought he was funny, the girls just thought he was gross.

From the first day Mike had seen Cora in middle school he had wanted her to be his. Cora wished Mike would fall off the end of the world into the pits of Hell. When Mike wasn't hanging with the rest of the lower class students, he'd be stalking Cora looking for his his opportunity to be alone with her. He knew a few upper class goons that owed him favors for the cigarettes he got them, but some little pip squeak who must have taken martial arts classes had gotten in his way.

One day Mike followed Cora home from school to learn where she lived. He looked up the apartment number from the names on the mailboxes and learned she lived on the top floor. Maybe he could hid up there and wait for her to leave the apartment by herself, he figured to himself.

Atom

Atom had walked Cora home from school almost every day since the very first. They'd hold hands, talk, and look at each other. He'd never been invited upstairs to her apartment, and she had never accepted Atom's offers for her to come by his place. She seemed content to just be with him during their daily sojourn at school as her protector from the less mature males.

Atom had learned a few things about Cora that she was willing to share. Mr. Smith, Cora's father, worked as a motorman on the subway. He drove a train on the "B" line during the rush hour commute. The "B" line assignment was a sign of high standing among motormen, it took lots of experience to handle the train up and down the Manhattan bridge crossing. Cora had an older sister who was now in college on the west coast. Her name was Ellie. Cora's mother Nora worked part time at a day care center for preschool kids not far from their house.

Cora didn't live far from the Yamamotos' house where Atom lived. From his third story bedroom window Atom could see the apartment house where Cora lived, about a half mile away. He wasn't sure if her window faced his, but he would often stare out his window with his eyes on 'zoom' trying to catch a glimpse of her face.