Just Like Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page B

fast-forward the boring parts.”
    “ Yes, how could you remember yourself as a child? How about this one? ” Roland snapped his finger s .
    Nick’s moth er , in her late twenties, had thick, dark rings under her eyes. Strands of blond hair had escaped t he elastic band that collected a mass of curly hair into a ponytail. L ooking ex hausted after coming home from working a shift behind the counter at McDonald’ s, she came into focus as she bent over and picked up her five -year old son. Her arms quiver ed from his weight, but she hoist ed him up and kissed his cheeks. “How was your first day of school, kiddo?”
    He burrowed his head into his shoulder, wiping at the spot she had kissed.
    “Not so good, huh?”
    He shook his head.
    She nodded in sympathy. “Tomorrow will be better.”
    “Where were you? I waited and waited and waited and you didn’t come. You left me there. All alone.”
    “But you were with other kids .” Her face lit up. “Oh, you missed me?”
    “Mom, I’m a big boy now. I’ll be as big as daddy in one more year.” He held up two fingers. Noticing that he’d miscounted, he said, “ Or maybe two years… I’ll tell you when it happens, so you’ll know.”
    Her grin broadened. “Promise me one thing, okay? Don’t grow up too soon . Would you do that for me ?”
    He offered a small smile and nodded. “I remembered it’s your birthday today.”
    “Oh, honey. That means so much to me. ”
    He nodded with excitement. “When do I get to open my presents?”
    She laughed. “ But i t’ s my birthday. Don’t I get any presents?”
    “After I open them, you can see what I g o t. Oh, but you bought them for me, so you know what I got, right?” He gave this some deep thought. “I just like opening them. That’s the best part.”
    “Sorry to disappoint you, buddy, but you didn’t get any presents. You’ll have to wait until it’s your birthday.”
    “Oh,” he said, disappointed .
    “Tell you what: if I get any presents, I’ll let you open one. How does that sound?”
    “And I can have some birthday cake, too?”
    “You can help me cut the first piece. Sound good?”
    He threw his arms her shoulders in a big hug.
    “Come on, Saint Nicholas. I brought home some pizza and ice cream.”
    The picture froze on his mother carrying her smiling son.
    “How about that? ” Roland asked. “ Do you remember that moment?”
    Upon seeing that vision of his mother, Nick felt a flurry of emotions : joy, sadness, guilt. He was thirty-two years old…and he missed his mother. He felt tears building up inside him, but for wh atever reason, they didn’t emerge . For that he felt grateful. But he still felt his facial muscles quivering, wanting to do just that.
    “Or how about this one?” Roland said.
    The picture revealed Nick’s father, a stocky man in his early thirties with glasses perched on his nose. He walked along a path at the zoo and stopped by a clown who contorted balloons into animals. Nick looked six years old.
    The clown spotted Nick, and a wide grin appeared on his face. “How would you like an elephant?”
    “I don’t want an elephant.”
    “Well, how about a dog then? Do you like dogs? How about I make one of them for you?”
    “I don’t want a stupid dog. And I don’ t like stupid clowns… Mr. Stupid Clown.”
    “Nicholas,” his father said, grabbing his forearm and jerking him off to the side. “That wasn’t nice. I want you to apologize.”
    Nick folded his arms. “I won’t do it. I won’t.”
    Gritting his teeth, his father said in a harsh tone, “If you don’t get back over there and apologize right now, I’m going to thrash your behind. And then afterwards we’ll come right back here, and you’ll apologize. Now which is it going to be?”
    Nick looked into his father’s eyes. “I won’t apologize. You should apologize. You did the bad thing. I saw it. You should apologize.”
    His father, clutching his son’s arm so tightly that Nick’s arm