Glass Houses Read Online Free PDF Page A

the breast pocket, right next to the micro recorder.
    â€œIs there anybody you know who would like to see Mr. Lawrence dead? From work or home?”
    â€œI can not say.”
    â€œWhat about you?”
    She took a long-winded breath. “I already said that I am sad Dom and Rachel are dead. But not twins. I do not like them.”
    Lena’s frankness surprised George the detective, not the man, and he could see why Thom was attracted to her. He probably felt liberated by her forwardness.
    George’s phone chirped. He read Thom’s text.
    TWINS DONE 1ST
    â€œAre we finished?” said Lena, exasperated.
    â€œNot by a long shot.”

seven
    â€œI’ve been thinking about kids lately,” said Birdie.
    Father Frank spit tea all over his devotional notes.
    â€œNot as in, I want to have them, but as in, about them. In general. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about childhood.”
    â€œWhat brought this on?” said Frank, dabbing the paper with his handkerchief.
    â€œLouise.”
    â€œRon’s dog?”
    â€œExactly. Last time I stayed at his house Louise had torn up a new accent pillow. They weren’t cheap and Ron was pissed. He collected all the stuffing and bits of torn fabric and piled the mess on the floor. Ron commanded Louise to sit and then he sat just behind the destroyed pile so that Louise could see him and the pillow parts. So Louise is sitting there, eyes tracking between the pillow and Ron. He’s mad, but not showing it. A sort of stare down went on for minutes. After a while Louise began to shake. Ron ignored her. Then she began to whine. Poor thing, after a few more minutes she’s beside herself. Shaking and whining, but not moving her butt from that spot of floor. After a few more minutes, I’m really feeling sorry for Louise. I’m about to plead her case when Ron moved the pillow stuff out of sight. Meanwhile, Louise is practically spastic and crying, but still not daring to move from the floor. Finally, Ron releases her and she jumps into his lap. He gives her all his attention and love. Kisses. Belly rubs. The works. Later that day, we were on the couch and Ron threw the other pillow near her. She completely ignored it. She had learned her lesson.”
    Frank leaned back in his desk chair. “That can’t be all to this child genesis.”
    â€œLouise is prone to eye infections and Ron has to put this gel-like medicine in her eyes. She hates it and always cries and fusses. He shushes her and talks all sweet while he’s doing it. Afterward, he cradles her like a baby and distracts her from wiping her eyes with her paw. I’ve seen him do this before, but this time I think back and realize that he’s never hit her. He’s trained her, disciplined, loved, but never hit. Not even a swat on the flank. While he’s got Louise in his arms, an image pops into my mind and I see him holding a baby. And I think he’d make a great father.”
    â€œTraining animals isn’t on the same scale as raising babies,” said Frank.
    â€œOf course not. But that doesn’t diminish the import of my thought. It was random, but not random at all. You’ve said that we, as mere humans, self-actualize. I wonder if this is God’s way of making us look at ourselves in a new light. Like the proverbial light bulb going on. Anyway, this not-so-random thought leads to another and another until I’m thinking about childhood. My childhood.”
    Frank clapped his hands together. “Finally! We’re getting somewhere.”
    â€œFrank, I’m serious.”
    â€œMe, too. I have the asperges rite to deliver soon.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll hurry. So I remembered one thing about myself that I had never given any thought to. Something I took for granted. Only … I never knew I had taken it for granted because I knew no alternative. It was my normal. At some point in time all children go through a