My Cousin's Keeper Read Online Free PDF

visiting, it gave me a good excuse to hang around, knowing that Dad’s buddies would include me in their talk and jokes. I’d sit with them on folding chairs around the doorway of the Guys’ Room, laughing along and joining in with their conversations.
    Dad had the shed to himself this time, until I wandered in.
    â€œSo your aunt’s still up there going on and on,” he remarked. He had part of the lawn mower dismantled, and there were carburetor and gasket parts laid out on the workbench. “She was driving me crazy. Please don’t tell your mother I said that about her sister.”
    â€œBon’s here,” I said. “He walked.”
    â€œI know, I heard the fuss your aunt just made. Poor kid. So where is he now?”
    â€œPlaying on the computer,” I replied.
    â€œHmm. Not interested in the great outdoors, then?”
    â€œI guess not,” I answered.
    But soon after, we heard voices in the backyard. Bon had teamed up with Gina, and they were over at the bikes. Gina’s bike was small and bright pink, with beads on the spokes that rattled around when she pedaled. I could see Bon sizing up the other bikes, the nearly new BMX that had been my Christmas present and the older bike that it had replaced. He glanced down to where I stood in the shed doorway watching, then chose the older bike.
    Our house might have been old and a bit cramped, but our backyard was large enough to ride bikes around and have a bit of fun. There was a bump and a slight drop where I could get my bike airborne if I pedaled hard enough, and a patch of gravel in the far corner where I could do skids and slides. Gina managed the yard well for a six-year-old who had recently asked Dad to take the training wheels off her bike. She pushed the little pink bike into motion and then pedaled furiously across the grass toward the back fence, looking quickly back two or three times to see where Bon was.
    â€œCome on,” she shrieked at him. “I’m racing you!”
    Bon didn’t set off quite as fast. One foot slipped from the pedal, and his bike twitched from left to right. Each time he pushed off, the bike wobbled and he stared intently at the handlebars and the ground, not quite able to get himself balanced. I guessed that he didn’t know much about cogs and gears, either. If I’d been close enough, I’m sure his knuckles would have shown white from him holding the grips so tightly. It took him a while to catch up with Gina, and it looked as though he had barely ridden a bike in his life. It was painful to watch.
    â€œYou OK over there?” Dad called to Bon.
    â€œNope!” I laughed. “He’s going to crash.” There was no reaction from Bon, save for one panicked glance.
    â€œDoesn’t look as though he’s ever ridden a bike before,” Dad said. Then he looked sideways at me. “I remember you being a bit wobbly on a bike, too, at first. He’s giving it his best shot.”
    I pretended I hadn’t heard. Of course I was wobbly the first time on a bike, but I reassured myself that I had been a little kid who never even needed training wheels. Dad went back to his workbench then and left me to watch the two bike riders — Gina racing and Bon wobbling.
    Shortly after came his mom’s voice. “Where are you? Time to go!” She hadn’t said his name. Bon wheeled the bike back to its resting place under the carport.
    Dad waved a relieved good-bye in the direction of Bon and his mom, then disappeared back inside the Guys’ Room. I saw him roll his eyes and shake his head.
    â€œAre you coming to play tomorrow, Bon?” Gina asked, trotting along behind him as they walked out to their car. She at least found him interesting.
    Mom came to find me.
    â€œWhy are you down here?” she demanded.
    Dad blinked and looked a little surprised. “Fixing the mower — why? What’s happened?”
    â€œNot
you
,”