Keeper of Keys Read Online Free PDF Page B

at living past that day, the next and maybe even September.

When we meet we melt into each other and I know for sure I have never, ever hugged Alice that hard before and I also know I don't ever want to let her go, ever.

    "But you did," Journey says and his voice sounds like Dr. Tate's, nonpartisan and unbiased.
But I get defensive anyway and fold my arms over my chest and pinch my lips together like a two-year-old.

"I did," I say, because it is the truth. I did let go of her for a long time, so long that we almost became strangers.

    "Did you miss me Alice?"

    "Yep!" Alice sings back as we clasp hands and skip back towards the deck.

    "Me, too," I say and pull her to me again.

    I don't want any fried chicken. I don't want to sit down with my family and discuss why I'm here three weeks early or what I've been doing with myself. I don't want to discuss the one hundred and fifty-year-old house I've purchased, the dogs, or the thing that's living in my blood. I don't even want to brush my teeth or change into the clothes that Sherry has washed, pressed and laid neatly on my bed. All I want is to take my child and buckle her safely into the passenger seat, take my place beside her and drive away.

    "You ain't gonna eat?" Poor Boy says when I come out of the room, dressed and ready to go.

    I could tell by the tone of his voice that he is offended. "It's just fried chicken." I want to say. "Fried chicken, bread and Kool-Aid." But I don't. Instead, I turn to Precious and ask: "Did you bring Alice's stuff with you?"

    Chastity, Destiny and Mystery look at me real sad. They all look like Precious, all got gaps in between their teeth, but their beauty don't thin when they smile. "She'll be back next summer." I say to them and look back at Precious.

    "Hell, you can't stay a spell?" Poor Boy speaks again and he tries to put some base in his voice, and narrows his eyes at me like he's speaking to one of his children.

    "Can't you just stay one more night?" Sherry says as she pulls out pork chops from the freezer. "I'm frying some chops and making some mash potatoes and creamed corn for dinner."

    I feel sorry for her, because she hasn't even washed the lunch dishes and already she's getting things together for dinner. What type of life is that?

    "What the hell happened to you up there?" Precious always talks about New York like it's in another atmosphere.

    "Nothing." I don't want Alice to worry, but already I see that her eyes are looking like my mother's eyes the day I left her to die alone and without me.

    "Go on in the livingroom Alice, We'll be ready to go soon."

    Alice shrugs her shoulders and wraps one arm around Chastity and the other around Destiny. Mystery is only four and is content to walk quietly alongside the trio.

    "Do you have her stuff or not?" I ask and think that maybe a meal wouldn't hurt, so I reach for a piece of bread and a small chicken wing.

    "Tell us what's wrong first?"

    "We are not children, Precious, and this is not a game. Do you have her stuff or not?" I say and then wonder why the hell I'm worried about clothing. I could buy Alice new clothes when we get back home. Clothes were the least of my worries.

    "We are really concerned about you Kai. I mean you drove all this way, there must be something wrong?"

    I think about Alice's favorite Power Ranger T-shirt and her Barbie pajamas that are good and worn now, just the way she likes them, and I know I need to get her clothes.

    Chapter Seven

    "Kai?" Precious calls my name and pouts her pink lips while she bats her eyes at me, like I'm one of her suitors instead of her cousin. I look over at Poor Boy and Sherry and they're all leaning in towards me, waiting.

    I look over my shoulder to make sure that Alice is occupied and then I look back at them because I think I hate them at this moment. Them and the money I gave them, them and their perfect health. I hate them all.

    "I have AIDS," I say as simply and as calmly as I would have