Drawing Bloodlines Read Online Free PDF Page B

again, this time to glower at his little brother. “What!” shouted Bobby as he crossed his arms. “I don’t u nderstand what the big deal is — I break stuff all the time.”
    “You’re not supposed to break stuff, Bo bby!” said Jonas, sternly. He took a deep breath and then whispered in his ear. “Remember what I told you? The reason why Nathan lives here with his grandfather? It was his mother’s.”
    Bobby’s eyes grew wide and then his head hung low. “Oh,” he uttered, softly.
    Slowly, Jonas tried to catch a glimpse of Nathan’s face. “Umm — Nathan,” he said with some trepidation. “Do you think the other frame is broken?”
    Nathan continued to stand motionless, but finally exhaled deeply as Jonas reached out to touch his hand. Both Jonas and Bobby looked at each other with a sense of relief as N athan carefully shook shards of glass from the other picture frame.
    It had fallen flat on its face and Nathan was worried that it too had been broken. He stared at the silver picture frame, its glass intact and in place. He then stared longingly at the pregnant woman looking back at him. Besides the dust and small particles of wood fragments on the glass, she stood just as he remembered her; a smile full of hope and eyes beaming with life.
    “Good, it’s not broken!” exclaimed Jonas, while securing the basketball underneath his arm.
    Nathan turned around to look at him and his pursed lips slowly curved into a smile. “Yeah,” he said drily and Nathan could hear Bobby release a deep sigh.
    Nathan turned to reassure him, but Bobby had already embraced him tightly to his side with a hug. “I’m sorry, Nathan,” he said. “I didn’t mean to.”
    “It’s okay,” he said, while resting his arm around Bobby. But Nathan’s worse fear lay in front of him.
    Nathan’s smile had disappeared again as he released Bobby. Carefully, he maneuvered through the pieces of glass and wood, so that he could examine the photo. Nathan blinked a few times and couldn’t believe his eyes. Even though the rose-colored picture frame his mom had carved from wood lay completely in ruin, their wedding photo was perfect and intact. Nathan smiled as he admired the picture of his parents, both dressed in their Sunday best.
    “What was your dad’s name?” asked Jonas with a smile. “And your mom — she’s bea utiful. Grace, right?”
    “Yeah,” said Nathan. His stomach tingled and a warm feeling began to grow from the pit of his stomach. He smiled. “Yes, my mom’s name is Grace and my dad’s nam e is Michael. Michael Urye.”
    “I’ll help you clean!” said Bobby ea gerly, reaching for the glass.
    “Wait!” shouted Nathan. Bobby froze. He could see a look of disappointment starting to creep onto Bobby’s face. “You can help, but let m e put the pictures away first.”
    Bobby smiled wide as Nathan placed the silver picture frame and the wedding photo of his parents into the top drawer of his desk. “What’s this?” asked Bobby, quickly reac hing through the shards of wood and glass again.
    “Wait, Bobby!” cried Jo nas. “Before you cut yourself.”
    Bobby paused and then frowned. “I’m not four years old, Jonas,” he seethed. From u nderneath the small fragments of glass and wood, Bobby pulled out a small cylinder object. “What is this? A whistle?”
    “Let me see that,” said Nathan, sounding intrigued and surprised. Bobby handed N athan the small silver object. The surface of it was smooth and it glinted in the light.
    “See, there is a slit or a hole near the top, for the sound to come out,” said Bobby.
    Jonas looked intently at Nathan. “You haven’t seen it b efore, have you?” asked Jonas.
    Slowly, Nathan shook his head while rubbing his hand over the surface of the object that nestled in the palm of his hand. “No, I h aven’t” he said.
    “I’m guessing it’s a whistle,” continued Bo bby, stepping forward.
    “It’s not a whistle!” responded Jonas, in a condescending