The Red Diary Read Online Free PDF Page A

was twelve as he and his brother stampeded down the narrow hallway to Davy's room, Once there, they sat on the worn carpet next to his bed and played three games of Trouble-Davy's favorite, his whole life; he never got tired of it. Nick won the second, since he'd popped an overabundance of sixes and didn't want Davy to catch on that he usually took a dive whenever they played.
    "You're just too good for me, Davy," he said after the game was back in its box and he was getting to his feet, ready to call it a night.
    Davy grinned and punched him in the arm, and Nick pulled his brother into a hug. Nick wasn't generally much of a hugger, but he knew Davy needed his hugs.

    * * *

    Davy lay in his room looking at his poster of the Tampa skyline at night thumb tacked to the wall at the foot of his bed. He had other posters, too-the Reds, Faith Hill, and one that was a huge calendar, and he X' ed every day off with a blue Magic Marker. But the skyline often drew his eyes more than the others, the buildings' smooth lines and curves all blending to a silhouette you could cut out of black construction paper,
    He'd even tried that once, cutting it out of paper, but it hadn't turned out good-some cuts weren't straight enough, others not curved right. Yet he still figured someone better with scissors could do it. Knowing the city could be shrunk into a single thin layer of construction paper made the jungle of tall buildings seem simpler, less scary,
    Not that he ever went into the city, but he wanted to be prepared. He didn't like new situations, new places. And because he saw pictures of the city everywhere-on the evening news, in the paper and heard about people working there and shopping there, he figured it was a smart thing to be ready for. Especially since Nick sometimes twisted his arm into going new places, winking and saying, "You need to get out more, buddy."
    One day, out of the blue, they'd driven to Tampa Bay Downs to watch horses race. He hadn't liked it at first. The place was too big and there were too many people but then he'd picked a horse with a funny name and Nick had bet five dollars on it. The horse won and he' d ended up having a fun day. Another time Nick had taken him to Epcot Center in Orlando. There' d been so much to look at, it had boggled his mind, but then he'd learned how cartoons were animated and watched some
    cool 3-D shows. And that night they ate at a Mexican restaurant with stars in the ceiling and a volcano on the wall that'd been like magic because the stars and volcano had seemed real, and he kept forgetting they were inside a building. The volcano had erupted every few minutes and he made Nick take a picture of it. So when Nick said he needed to get out more, Davy believed him, It was scary, but it usually came out good.
    Thinking of Nick, though, made his chest go a little hollow. Nick always acted happy when they were together, but sometimes his eyes were sad even when he was smiling. He knew Nick wasn't really happy-he just didn't know why. Maybe it was because he worked so much. Davy couldn't believe anybody worked as much as his brother. He wondered when Nick had time to sleep or read or watch TV. Davy had a schedule he followed most of the time-certain shows he watched, certain hours he blocked out for yard work or shopping with Elaine. It was a pretty busy life, so he couldn't imagine how busy Nick must be. running the whole company on top of all that other stuff.
    Or maybe, he thought, it was because of Dad. Nick stayed mad at Dad because he drank beer and slept a lot, but Davy loved his dad and Nick, so it was hard to understand why beer and sleeping made Nick angry. Of course, Davy knew their dad wasn't like other dads. Dennis Cahill up the street was always riding bikes with his kids, and sometimes Davy rode with them. And when Steve next door came home from work, Tara and Tyler always ran out to meet him, and Davy saw how much he loved them just from watching. He had to admit he hadn't