Bird Song Read Online Free PDF Page B

Graham headed back upstairs to pack a bag.   I couldn’t begin to think about what exactly was going on with his father, but the drinking, the enormous evidence of it was astounding and frighteningly real.   This wasn’t some after-school special, or a PSA on television.   This was real life, and Graham had been living it for a very long time.   And he hadn’t told anyone.
    He hadn’t told me.
    I shook my head at the selfishness my thought was laced with.   Why did I need to know?   Something this private and painful shouldn’t have to be revealed to anyone…but the guilt from knowing that I could have helped him sooner and didn’t was slowly starting to creep up in me.   There was a lot that Graham didn’t know about me, a lot that he’d be very upset about learning, so I couldn’t hold this against him.   He needed my support, not my complaints.
    “Okay, let’s go.”   I looked up and saw him standing next to me, his backpack slung over his shoulder and a baseball cap perched on his head.
    We walked out of the house, Graham carefully closing the door, sealing in the stale air and the sea of glass behind us, and silently walked back towards mine.   Graham laid his backpack on the ground next to the couch while I went upstairs to grab some pillows and a blanket for him to use.   His mood was somber when I returned.
    “I left him a note, letting him know where I was,” he mumbled, the exhaustion showing on his face and in his tone.   I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him as tightly as I could.
    “It’s going to be okay, Graham.   You’re not alone in this,” I said reassuringly, hoping that the words would find some place inside of him to burrow and take root.
    I reluctantly let him go and watched as he plopped himself down on the couch and stretched his length out.   He closed his eyes and I smiled.   It had to be okay.   Things weren’t supposed to not work out for the people you loved.
    I flipped off the living room light and headed up the stairs towards my room.
    “Hey, Grace?”
    I stopped on the fourth step and bent my head down so I could hear him better.   “Yeah?”
    “I love you.”
    I grinned.   “Ditto.”

RETURN

    The feeling that I carried with me as I headed towards my room was completely different than anything I had felt before.   It felt like completion.   The final cracks had been repaired.   It kept the smile plastered on my face as I went through my usual routine to get ready for bed.
    When I walked into my room, Robert was sitting cross-legged on my bed, a slight frown distorting the beauty of his lips.   He knew that Graham was downstairs on the couch, and he wasn’t thrilled.   “I don’t want to hear your complaints about it, Robert,” I whispered as I climbed into bed.   I pulled the covers up over my bare knees and turned to look at him, ready to hear the arguments I knew he was going to make anyway.
    I don’t see why he couldn’t stay at home.   He’s not being abused, and his father isn’t even there right now.   His guilt and your compassion shouldn’t be enough reason for him to be here, Grace.
    I felt my mouth push to the side, my expression doing nothing to fully convey just how annoyed I was that his mental spelunking hadn’t been enough to help him root out the whole truth.   “It wasn’t my idea that he stay here, Robert; it was Janice’s.   The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, but I’m not going to let him stay in that house.   You didn’t see it.   It’s-“
    Robert placed his fingers over my lips, silencing the slowly increasing volume of my rant.   I can see it in your head, Grace.   It is disturbing, truly.   I wasn’t aware that he’d been going through so much.   His mind is a lot like yours, only he uses random thoughts to hide   how he really feels.   I believe it’s so he won’t have to think about any of it.   But, I won’t tell you that I approve of him sleeping under the same roof as