Beetle Boy Read Online Free PDF Page B

kid.”
    â€œHe is creepy,” she agreed. I had snuck my hand onto her closest arm, and she shook it away. “Stop hanging on me! God! I can’t stand that!”
    But she was more impatient than angry. She never really got mad at me like she got mad at Liam. I knew the difference. It meant the world to me.
    After that conversation, I would sometimes deliberately imitate Liam—his shrill voice, his constant jittery movements. The way he would sometimes run in place while he was speaking. I would do it to make Rita laugh. And she did laugh. We bonded over our contempt for Liam. Did he know? Was he too little to notice? Did it register that I was mocking him to score points with Rita?
    Liam. Little Brother. I am so sorry. No wonder you hate me.

    It would have been so much easier to meet Clara’s parents at a chain restaurant—the four of us in our places at a square table, the awkward silences filled by restaurant clatter. But my broken leg prevented this—our meeting had to be in Clara’s house, the place where Clara tended to all my needs. Clara had prepared everything, including putting away my pills and folding up the sleeper sofa so that the room looked less like an invalid’s hovel.
    â€œHow are you, dear?” Clara’s mom asks, settling herself beside me on the sofa, a move that makes me feel instantly panicky. But her tone is kind. It is obvious from the first few minutes of the visit that Susan and Don are going to go easy on me. They are nice people—big surprise—but I can tell that they are confused about what to make of Clara’s new boyfriend.
    â€œMuch better than last week,” I say. I am wearing real clothes for the occasion, shorts and my only shirt with a collar. I am already tired.
    â€œHow long before you can get out of that cast?” she asks, pointing to it.
    I tell her a couple of weeks.
    â€œWhat will you do then?”
    Clara interrupts, tells them about the big plastic boot that is coming next.
    â€œDid you get a leave of absence from your job?” Susan asks.
    I tell her yes, although the last thing I care about these days is my stupid job at the bike shop. “I’ll go back as soon as I can. I should have a better idea of when after my next doctor’s appointment.” I am making an effort to sound like I have everything figured out. Susan and Don seem to be buying it. I finish warmly, “I don’t know what I would have done without Clara.”
    â€œShe’s a jewel,” Susan agrees.
    â€œClara says you have no family in the area,” Don says. “That can’t be easy.”
    This throws me momentarily because Clara knows that I have a mom and a brother living in nearby Grand Rapids, a rather recent development. She pokes her head back into the living room just long enough to give me a private warning look. She probably didn’t want to explain the extent of my estrangement from my family. Not to a set of parents who are as involved and adoring as hers are.
    â€œNo, it’s not easy,” I agree, going along with Clara’s story. “You think you can make it on your own, and then something like this happens.”
    Clara—the jewel—comes back into the living room with a tray of cheese and crackers.
    While passing it around, she tells her parents that my father lives in Jamaica. I had actually told her this, although it is more of a suspicion than a fact. I was pretty sure he had headed south to hit up his dad permanently, taking his soon-to-be second wife with him. Although it was hard for me to picture him still married after a whole year. But who cares?
    â€œYou’ll be back on your feet in no time, Charlie,” Susan says. “Let us know if there’s any way Don or I can help. We’re only an hour away, and we’re happy to lend a hand—doctor’s appointments, groceries, whatever.”
    Don chimes in: “I’d like to take both of