Mark My Words Read Online Free PDF Page A

Amelia, celebrities might be well-known recording artists, or they could be her current favorite YouTuber. Either way, an older brother who spent all his time alone in his room reading wasn’t her idea of exciting.
    It was a shock to all of us when Amelia told us she was marrying Chris and moving to North Carolina. They hadn’t been dating that long, and she was only a year into college. At first everyone tried to talk her out of it, but then she confessed that she was pregnant. That’s when it made sense. Chris was in the army, so at least we knew Amelia was taken care of financially.
    Mom set the food out on the table, and Ray didn’t waste any time. He started scooping food on his plate as if it was his first meal in days. As I spooned a piece of chicken on my own plate, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I’d worked through lunch, and then I’d been so preoccupied with thoughts of Lennie that I’d forgotten to eat.
    My stomach thanked me when I took a bite of food. For a few minutes the three of us ate without talking. But that wasn’t unusual. My family wasn’t uncomfortable with long silences. I never understood people who had to talk constantly. There was something comforting about being with people without feeling like you had to speak.
    But there was one thing I was curious about. Something I wanted to know. After swallowing down my food, I looked up. “So, Mom, were you able to read what I sent you?” Ever since I’d shared with my parents that I was working on my book, Mom had been begging me to send it to her. Initially I’d scoffed at the offer. The idea of someone reading my rough draft made me want to hurl. Then I realized that was precisely why I needed to send it to her. If it was terrible, it would be better to hear from my mom than from an editor at a publishing house. Besides, if I planned to publish it, I would have to get used to the idea of people reading it, right? So last week, I’d bit the bullet and sent her what I had.
    Setting down her fork she smiled at me. “Yes, I read it all, and I can’t wait for more.”
    “Really?” My stomach flip-flopped. “You liked it?”
    “Liked it?” Her eyes sparkled. “I loved it.”
    Uh oh. I’d seen that look before. When I was in second grade I painted a picture in class. An awful monstrosity of colors morphing together until they resembled something you’d find in a toilet. But Mom beamed when I handed it to her. Then she hung it on the fridge as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
    Perhaps my mom was the wrong person to critique my novel.
    “I just have one question,” she said, leaning forward.
    The expectant look on her face caused me to squirm in my seat. Unfortunately, the chairs were so old that even the slightest movement caused them to creak and moan. Ray threw me a dirty look until I stopped moving. Perhaps Amelia had the right idea when she moved far away. Growing up, I’d always been told I was the smart one, but I was questioning that now. Out of the two of us she was the only one successfully living on her own. Well, maybe not technically “on her own,” but at least she was out from under our parents’ thumb. “What’s that?” I asked her.
    Mom smiled. “Who’s the girl?”
    I almost choked. “Um…she’s fictional. It’s a story, Mom.”
    “I know it’s a story, Colin. I’m not stupid.” Mom had never gone to college. She married
my dad right out of high school. He had a good job, so she never needed to work. After he died unexpectedly as the result of an accident when Amelia was an infant and I was a toddler, my mom immediately fell into the arms of Ray. Therefore, any time I corrected Mom or treated her like she didn’t know something she got defensive. I knew my mom was intelligent, and I had no doubt that she could’ve been very successful had she not put her dreams on hold for the rest of us. In fact, it made me sad at times. Ray had taken care of my mom