Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Sleight of Hand
    Sleight of Hand
    Sleight of Hand
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Sleight of Hand

    By Natasha Deen

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    On a dare from his girlfriend's brother, Javvan steals a neighbor's car. Now he’s got a criminal record and a bigger problem: get a job or violate his parole. Endless interviews later and no one will hire him because of his criminal record. Whatever happened to a second chance? Finally, he gets a gig with a contractor named Kevin, and Javvan figures his life is on an upswing. Too bad Kevin’s a thief and he’s given Javvan one choice. Help him steal, or he’ll make sure Javvan ends up back in jail.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateNov 3, 2015
    ISBN9781459811225
    Sleight of Hand
    Author

    Natasha Deen

    Natasha Deen loves stories: exciting ones, scary ones and, especially, funny ones! As a kid of two countries (Guyana and Canada), she feels extra lucky because she gets a double dose of stories. Natasha is the author of many books including the Lark Ba Detective series in the Orca Echoes line, Depth of Field in the Orca Soundings line and In the Key of Nira Ghani which won the Amy Mathers Book Award and was nominated for the Red Maple, MYRCA and R. Ross Arnett Awards. Natasha lives in Edmonton.

    Read more from Natasha Deen

    Related to Sleight of Hand

    Related ebooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes

      Jul 26, 2022

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Space Between Us

      Oct 9, 2019

      The Space Between Us
      8 min read

    • Article

      Tomorrows

      Mar 15, 2022

      The night, as most nights, was like a dream. At ten, once I’d fed the dog the last scraps off the stove. Once I’d cursed the cat for scratching up my mama’s antique furniture, then welcomed him back into my arms. Once I’d slicked my hair into a ponyt

      26 min read

    • Article

      Jude

      May 3, 2018

      Jude
      9 min read

    • Article

      If the SHOE FITS

      Nov 16, 2021

      If the SHOE FITS
      6 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Man On Fire

      Jun 30, 2019

      Man On Fire
      8 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 30, 2019

      Summer Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dirtnap

      Dec 15, 2019

      I was staying at Jean’s apartment in LA for two months to escape an especially dire Oregon winter and to test how much weight our relationship could bear. We had been conducting a long-distance romance for nearly a year then, back-and-forth visits an

      24 min read

    • Article

      Thirteen

      Jan 30, 2020

      Thirteen
      21 min read

    • Article

      I Never

      Jul 10, 2022

      “What’d you do now?” he hollered. Sheriff Thorn’s words struck my heart. Without thinking, I grasped the knife to pull it from her chest. “Shit, you crazy coot, drop it,” he snarled, then grabbed me up and slammed me against the side of the cruiser.

      13 min read

    • Article

      Claim

      Aug 10, 2021

      In the tiny room that’s used as a staff canteen in Halden Insurance, you take two Ryvita out for your lunch, snap one in half, then put the bigger half back in your lunchbox. Maura licks the egg mayonnaise that’s spilling out of her sandwich as she w

      11 min read

    • Article

      Whiskey Sour

      Jul 18, 2023

      Whiskey Sour
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Girl I Knew Somewhere

      Dec 2, 2021

      The Girl I Knew Somewhere
      6 min read

    • Article

      Three Blocks

      Aug 10, 2023

      I lock my car and shove my keys into the pocket of my big coat. The parking garage is nearly full this morning, so I have to use the elevator to get down to the exit. The moment the doors slide open, there is a woman waiting for me. She is wearing my

      8 min read

    • Article

      A Few Words to the Graduates

      Jun 11, 2018

      A Few Words to the Graduates
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Bystander

      Jan 7, 2021

      The Bystander
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lifted

      Oct 1, 2021

      Lifted
      6 min read

    • Article

      In a Silent Way

      Nov 25, 2023

      In a Silent Way
      3 min read

    • Article

      The happiest BIRTHDAY

      Jun 30, 2021

      The happiest BIRTHDAY
      6 min read

    • Article

      We Don't Talk About That Here

      Nov 4, 2021

      We Don't Talk About That Here
      4 min read

    • Article

      Spilt Milk

      Nov 4, 2019

      Spilt Milk
      10 min read

    • Article

      The perfect DRESS

      Sep 7, 2021

      The perfect DRESS
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Charm

      Jul 30, 2020

      The Charm
      5 min read

    • Article

      Search and Destroy

      Oct 24, 2017

      My daughter has bugs living in her hair. It is my job to kill them. The post Search and Destroy appeared first on Guernica.

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Gas Station

      Mar 15, 2019

      Mary believed there were two kinds of people in the world. There were those who were seen and those who were not. Mary considered herself the latter. She hadn’t lived in the town for long, only a few months. It was known for its beaches. It swelled w

      10 min read

    • Article

      New NEIGHBOUR

      Oct 21, 2020

      “It was a cold rainy morning and Mr Dear was staring out of the sitting room window. He does this because a) he thinks it makes him look wistful and sensitive, and b) he knows it annoys me when I’m dusting because he could be lifting up all the usele

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Sleight of Hand

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Sleight of Hand - Natasha Deen

      Acknowledgments

      C h a p t e r O n e

      I see my chances for a new life die in the eyes of the interviewer. It’s always in their eyes. They go flat, lifeless. And it always happens toward the end of the interview. Doesn’t matter that I have work experience or that I’m willing to do any job and put in long hours. Doesn’t matter that I’m a good student and on the track team. They ask that fateful question, and I have to answer honestly.

      That’s when their eyes go dead. It’s all, Thank you, Mr. Malhotra. We’ll call you.

      They never do.

      This interview’s no different. Bike-courier job. After-school hours, weekend gigs. I could work around my mom’s schedule, make sure there’s always someone to take my little brother, Sammy, to his after-school stuff. I’d told all of this to the interviewer. She’d smiled, called me a good son.

      Not always, but I don’t tell her that.

      Then she’d laughed, said the job was mine.

      Just as I am breathing the tightness out of my chest, she says, Oh, shoot. Last question. She rolls her eyes, as though it is an annoyance to have to ask me. Have you ever been arrested for theft?

      Yes.

      The smile holds—she thinks I’m joking. When I don’t say, Gotcha, realization kicks in.

      End of smiles. End of her thinking I’m a good son.

      What were you arrested for?

      I stole a car.

      And you were convicted.

      Yes. I want to tell her more, but it’s complicated to explain. Plus, it would make me look like I’m trying too hard to minimize what I’ve done.

      She gives me a look like I just farted. Thank you, Mr. Malhotra. We’ll call you.

      No. Please. I made a mistake, I told her. Got caught up with a dumb moment— Stupid. Now I just look like I’m trivializing my choices. It was a bad decision, and I regret it.

      She’s standing, ready to shove me out the door. Glancing around like my presence is dirtying her white furniture, white walls, white suit.

      Please. Mrs. O’Toole. Give me a chance. I stay seated, unwilling to budge. This is my twenty-second interview. My twenty-second rejection. If I could go back in time and not steal that stupid Lexus, I would. One idiot moment. One stupid choice, and my life’s been screwed ever since.

      Mrs. O’Toole sighs. Takes off her red glasses and rubs her eyes. It’s not me, she says. It’s our clients. There are sensitive documents that get shipped. We can’t take the risk.

      But I didn’t steal any files—it was a car—

      Javvan.

      I stop. Use of my first name means it’s a for-sure no.

      I have a ton of kids who want this job. She gives me a pointed look. A ton of kids who didn’t steal and didn’t get convicted.

      Two more years, and my youth record gets wiped. It may as well be twenty years. This thing will never stop following me.

      I have another interview. Her expression is full of pity. I’m sorry. Good luck—I’m sure someone else will hire you.

      Yeah, I mumble as I stand and head for the door. That’s what the last guy said.

      If I could be a coward and wait until my record’s expunged before looking for work, I would. But gainful employment is part of my probation. Interviews suck. The disappointed looks of my never-to-be-bosses suck. And what I have to do next sucks more.

      It takes about an hour to bike the Calgary streets to my probation officer’s building, chain up, then head in. I sit in the room. It’s empty except for some cop in uniform. We wait in the dingy outer office with its 1970s decor and 1990s Reader’s Digest magazines. Fifteen minutes later, my probation officer comes out. Mary Stevens. In my head, I call her Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. She doesn’t believe bad kids can be good. Doesn’t believe that good kids can do bad things and still be good. Her favorite word is recidivism. That means once a criminal, always a criminal.

      Mary gives me the usual prissy smile. Javvan. Good. You’re here.

      The way she talks makes my eyes twitch. High-pitched. False. The dead-giveaway tone that adults who don’t like kids use. Ms. Stevens, I say.

      Come in, sweetie.

      She calls all of us sweetie when other adults are around. Ditto with calling us her kids. Yeah. Right. If that were really the case, she’d have tossed all of us into foster care.

      I stand.

      She stops. And don’t forget about your phone.

      Right. Mary has a rule about electronic devices in her office. I shut off my phone and drop it in the basket. Rumor is, some kid tried to sneak one in, but Mary had some kind of electronic-detection tech and caught him. Then she reported the violation of his probation. He got booted back to the remand center, where he promptly got his butt kicked and landed in the infirmary.

      You have a job yet? The nice-girl act falls away as soon as the door clicks shut. Mary gestures to a brown folder as she drops her skinny butt onto the wood chair. It would look good for you to have employment.

      By that, she means it would look

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1