Alien Heat Read Online Free PDF Page B

dog in.”
    David bent close to Rose. Her shoulders tensed at his approach, and he gave her a polite kiss on the cheek. She smelled of fresh cut onions and the outdoors. He noticed that her hair had been cut a few inches, shoulder length now, black, thick, and curly. He wondered when she’d had the cut.
    Mattie hugged his knees. “Hi, Daddy.”
    He rubbed the top of her head, his one daughter who didn’t mind having her hair messed up. The phone rang. Rose gave him a polite look. She used to get tense when the phone rang at suppertime, worried another family dinner would be interrupted.
    â€œDavid, why don’t you pick that up? Likely, it’ll be for you.”
    Any number of his colleagues would have given their right arm for such a pleasant, understanding spouse. David wondered how you got them to the polite part without hitting the uncaring stage.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œI figured you’d be home.”
    â€œHi, Mel.”
    â€œI assume you’ve had a shower, a rest, something to eat, and quality time with the fam?”
    â€œI’ve been here twenty minutes, Mel.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t live so far out.” Somewhere in the background someone laughed and sang loudly. Mel raised his voice. “I been talking to Detective Yo.”
    â€œYou mean Clements?”
    â€œYeah, Detective Yo. She wants to take us over the supper club. Looks like they finally got all the bodies out.”
    â€œWhat’s the toll?”
    â€œTwo hundred forty-three.”
    David knew the number would rise as people waited for the clogged medical system to decide how much they’d be helped.
    â€œSo when’s a good time to set this up?” Mel asked.
    David glanced over his shoulder. “How long till supper?”
    Kendra dropped her wooden spoon, trailing grease from the stove to the floor. “I’m doing my best, okay, Dad? You can zap a package in the mike if you don’t want to wait for the real thing.”
    David made a mental note to strangle his daughter. “Give me a couple hours, Mel.”
    â€œOkeydoke. Tell my sister hello. Tell the kids I’ll take them out for ice cream next week.”
    David hung up the phone. “Uncle Mel says hello.”
    Mattie took his hand. “Come on, Daddy, let me show you Elliot’s food bowl.”
    She led him out the door, into the backyard and the tall grass. How would it be for the girls if he and Rose split? Did he really want to pull the security out from under this little girl who looked at him with eyes that reminded him so much of his father?
    He had been naive at the birth of his children, vowing to be a perfect parent, sure he could shield them from all the hard edges, and give them picture perfect childhoods.
    What was it in his marriage that held him? Did he love Rose, or was he just afraid to let go of the fairy tale? Some days the rest of his life seemed like a very long time.
    The garden was choking under a waist-high tangle of weeds. The leaves of the plum tree had been stripped by Japanese beetles and were brown, dead, and dry. The plums that had survived the final freeze were just now showing hints of purple. It would be a race to see who got them first, the birds or the kids.
    Mattie led him to the grape arbor, another example of good intentions gone to hell. He looked into the blue plastic food bowl. The bits of broccoli had dried and been bleached almost white by the sun. The lettuce had dehydrated and lined the sides of the bowl like a layer of paper. The fruity iguana mix was dried and crumbling.
    â€œSee?” Mattie said. “Something ate some of the iguana mix. So Elliot’s been here, he’s okay.”
    David knelt down till he was eye level with his youngest. “It looks to me more like birds have been at it.”
    Mattie tucked her chin close to her chest. “That’s what Mommy said.”
    â€œWhy don’t we look in the garden? Maybe Elliot’s