B000FCJYE6 EBOK Read Online Free PDF Page A

yelled.
    “What?” he yelled back, so I knew he was okay.
    “You fall in?” That was one of my favorite jokes. I cracked up.
    “No, dangit!” he yelled. He sounded mad. I stopped laughing.
    “Well, come out already, then.” I picked at a crack in the wood door, and then it swung open and Davey walked right past me. I scrambled after him. He got on the stool next to my dad.
    “My dad’s a big jerk, ” he said loudly. “That’s how he is.” He grabbed his Coke, took a deep breath, and blew bubbles furiously through the straw.
    We all stared at him. My dad picked him up and put him on his lap. Davey leaned back into his chest, holding his Coke with both hands. His nose was running and he wiped it with his sleeve. He glanced at me and then away. His eyes got super blue when he cried. They were cornflower. I had a cornflower crayon. I didn’t like it when Davey cried. I shredded a little napkin.
    “Say, now,” my dad said, smoothing Davey’s hair for him. “Had a long day, I think.”
    Frank stood there with his arms crossed, looking sadly at Davey. “Well, little man,” he said. “You know what this calls for?”
    Davey shook his head. There was so much snot on his face I finally wiped it off with my own sleeve.
    “Cheeseburgers,” Frank said seriously. “That’s what. Wouldn’t you say?” he asked my dad.
    “Damn straight,” my dad said. He set his chin on Davey’s head and rocked him a little. “Damn straight.”
    I hopped down and went to call my mom to say we’d be late.
     
     
     
    In September, Esau went Away. I know it was September because on the first day of school, he was there, and then he was not. He came home, but Away hung over the house like the threat of war: We waited. The waiting gave us something to do. There was some quiet agreement among us that we would not proceed without Esau, and this agreement killed my father.
    I am getting ahead of myself.
    Every time Esau went Away, it was only for a Little While, until he was Feeling Better.
    “How long is a little while?”
    “A few weeks.”
    “And then he can walk us to school.”
    “Of course he can.”
    “Does he go to school at Away?”
    “No. He’s not feeling well enough.”
    “How is he feeling?”
    My mother was standing at the window with her hands on her hips. My father and I were playing gin rummy.
    “He’s delusional.”
    “Arnold,” said my mother, her voice heavy with sarcasm. “That’s very helpful.”
    My father was drunk.
    “What? I’m not going to lie to her.”
    Somehow my mother was able to convey, with her back, disdain.
    “Gin,” my father said.
    “What’s delusional?” I watched the cards arch under his rough thumbs.
    “Cut,” he said, smacking the deck on the table between us.
    “See?” said my mother. “Now you’ve got her started.”
    “It means he doesn’t know who he is,” said my father, and dealt. He looked once at his cards, laid them down, and went over to the bar. “Want an olive?” he asked me. I nodded, trying to organize my cards without dropping them.
    My mother turned. “I’m going out,” she said.
    “Out where?” my father asked.
    “I don’t know,” she yelled, startling us both. “Just out, if you don’t mind.” She walked over to my father, furious, and yelled in his ear, “Out!”
    And left.
    I didn’t want to look at my father. I studied my cards and carefully laid down the queen of spades.
    We sat there for a very long time.
    “Is she coming back?” I asked.
    My father nodded slowly. “I would assume so,” he said. “One never knows.”
    He picked up my queen.
    After a while, I asked, “Do you know how to cook?”
    He looked up at me. “What?” he said. “Yeah, I know how to cook. Why?”
    I shrugged. “What do you know how to cook? Eggs?”
    “Sure, I can cook eggs. I can cook all sorts of things, Katie, why?” He laughed.
    “In case she doesn’t come back,” I said. “Gin.”
    My father tossed his cards down on the table, threw