Home for the Holidays Read Online Free PDF

the car, Tommy said, “You gotta be kidding.”
    Nicky said, “What?”
    “This is your
house!”
    “Why not?”
    “It looks like a—I don't know—castle or something. You really live here? I mean, just
you
?”
    “Well, there're some rooms over the garage where Clarence hangs out during the day.”
    “So he lives here, too?”
    “No,” Nicky said. “He has his own apartment. That's just for him to hang out during the week if he's not driving.”
    “So the house is basically just for you and your folks?”
    Nicky laughed. “Come in and see.”
    Tommy stared at everything and was almost completely silent. He barely said hello to Nicky's parents. He smiled at Nicky's grandmother but grimaced when she gave him a hug.
    “You look starving,” she said when she turned him loose. “And you feel like a bag of bones. Let me make you some macaroni.”
    “That's okay,” Tommy said. “I'm not really hungry.”
    “Come upstairs,” Nicky said. “I'll show you your room.”
    Going across the house, Tommy said, “This is nuts.”
    “What?”
    “Look at this place!” he said. “I mean, not for nothing,but what's all this for? You could set up a bowling alley in here. Check this out.”
    Tommy paced off the living room, walking the length of it and then the width. “You could put my whole house in this room and still have room left over. Unbelievable.”
    Upstairs, Nicky said, “This is your room. Here's your bathroom. There's towels and stuff.”
    Tommy looked out the window and said, “Who lives next door? Donald Trump?”
    “No. That's my friend Amy's house. You'll like her.”
    “Yeah? She's pretty?”
    Nicky had never thought of Amy that way, but he said, “Actually, yes. But she's just my friend—like, since I was a little kid.”
    “Uh-huh. And where do you sleep?”
    “My room's just down the hall. Here.”
    Tommy looked in and whistled. “You got that
Black-Planet
poster.”
    “I got the new
BlackPlanet Two
, too,” Nicky said.
    “You're kidding—the one we coulda ripped off this summer?”
    “Yes, but this time it's legal. It was a Christmas present from my parents. What did you get from yours?”
    “Nothing,” Tommy said. “Nothing yet, anyway. My mom said my presents would be waiting for me when I got back. Between you and me, I think she's going shopping at those after-Christmas sales.”
    “Oh,” Nicky said. “So maybe that means more stuff, since it'll be cheaper, right?”
    “Something like that,” Tommy said.
    “Well, I got you something for
now,”
Nicky said. “Come on.”
    Nicky led Tommy back downstairs, to the Christmas tree, where only two packages remained. Nicky handed Tommy the first one and said, “Open this. It's from me.”
    Tommy tore the paper off, then pulled the box apart. “A skateboard? Whoa!” he said. “But … I don't know how to ride a skateboard.”
    “I'm going to teach you to skate like Tony Hawk,” Nicky said. “When I'm done, you'll be the skateboard king of Brooklyn. Now open the other present.”
    Tommy quickly unwrapped the smaller package.
    “No way,” he said.
    “Way,” Nicky said.
    “Unbelievable,” Tommy said. “Is this one legal, too?”
    “Of course,” Nicky said. “Now we can play BlackPla.net
Two
online after you go home.”
    Tommy hung his head. “It's too much,” he said. “And you know what I got for you? Nothing.”
    “Fugheddaboudit,”
Nicky said, and laughed. “You came to visit me! That's the best Christmas present of all.”
    Frankie and Nicky's father had a drink while the two boys were getting reacquainted. Nick poured two glasses of whiskey and sat with Frankie in the library.
    “To your health,” he said.
    “Salute
, as we say in the old country,” Frankie said. “So, tell me about this Van Allen guy.”
    “Cheers,” Nicky's father said. “What do you want to know?”
    “Well, how come he's such a big deal?” Frankie asked. “Is he one of those guys who arrived on the
Mayflower
with the