Chapter 21: Moo

George did not post the old video the way he had before.

He posted it with a soundtrack.

Someone had cut the hallway scene short and slowed Jude's face.

A cow's moo played every time he opened his mouth.

At the end, a title card read: NEXT ON THE PAYROLL: THE FARM BOY.

Under that was a photograph of Grandma Bronze's gray house.

A red circle was drawn around the kitchen window.

Jude saw it at breakfast.

He put his phone down very carefully, as if it were hot.

"I'm calling the family lawyer," William said, reading over his shoulder.

"No."

"Jude, he used your grandmother's kitchen."

"Ken's grandmother's," Jude said. "And no."

Across the table, Ken had not touched his eggs.

He looked at the screen for a long time and pushed it back across the cloth.

"I'll ignore it," he said.

"You said that last time."

"It worked last time. He stopped when nobody gave him anything."

"He stopped because we were busy." Jude pressed his palms on the table.

"He used your grandmother's bucket."

"I know what he used."

July reached over and covered Ken's hand with hers.

"Honey, you don't have to do anything. We can make it disappear by tonight."

"Please don't," Ken said quietly. "Please. Not with money. If it disappears with money, then it was true."

Nobody spoke.

William took off his glasses and rubbed his nose.

"Then what do you want us to do?"

"Nothing," Ken said. "I'll go to class."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Took Jude's Money, Ken Won His Heart from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.