The River Leith Read Online Free PDF

Zach was the first listed under Favorites, followed by Arthur, and then Marian and Ava. He leaned a little toward her; he could smell her perfume, something light and airy, and it made him feel calm and a little happy. The emotional response to her scent was interesting, mainly because it seemed so mild in comparison to the jolt he’d felt from Zach’s cologne.
    He considered asking Marian or Ava to bring a sample of Zach’s cologne to him, so he could smell it whenever he wanted. It made his mind itchy to even think of the scent, and yet he knew what a strange request that would be. He stayed silent.
    Ava said she had to get to work, and kissed him on the cheek. Marian stuck around for a while longer, though Leith didn’t really know what to talk to her about. She told him that Ava worked as the manager of an attorney’s office, and mentioned someone named LaMarcus.
    He wasn’t sure who that was, but he tried to feign some interest in the conversation once he discovered it was Marian’s little brother. He found that it was easier to pretend to care sometimes than to admit that he simply had no clue about a subject and didn’t really want to gain one.
    In the afternoon, Leith sat through a group therapy session with David Mueller, who was crying, again, about the fact that he just found out — again — that he couldn’t make any more memories. Also Jan Troxell repeating the weather report for the morning, and then bursting into tears because she couldn’t remember her daughter’s name…again.
    Leith always left these sessions feeling depressed and frustrated. He usually offered up a few meager sentences of his own, mostly about his concern that his brother had to spend so much money and time on him, and sometimes he’d mention that he was angry his father had died during the time that he couldn’t remember.
    But he said as little as possible for so many reasons. For one thing, David Mueller and Jan Troxell wouldn’t remember what he said next session anyway. As for the counselor, she was boring and never offered up anything that he didn’t already know for himself. “It’ll take some time,” Leith muttered under his breath along with her.
    The rehab facility’s food was dry and tasteless, and Leith pitied Arthur almost as much as he pitied himself as he watched his brother choke down a tray of it late that afternoon by Leith’s bed.
    “Arthur,” Leith said, pushing his food around on his plate. “Have you ever smelled something, and it reminded you of something else, but you couldn’t think of just what?”
    Arthur looked up, his eyes narrowed with curiosity. “Sure, everyone experiences that. What makes you ask? Have you remembered something? Something you’d forgotten?”
    Leith thought of the bird again, the small wounded thing that flew into the brush and hid itself from him. He thought of Zach’s eyes, and the way he’d looked at Leith, and he shook his head. “No, nothing in particular. There was a bird once, a long time ago. I keep thinking of him. A little golden-crowned kinglet.”
    Arthur shrugged, and took another bite of his food before pushing the tray away and leaning back in the soft chair. “There were birds all over the old house when we were kids.”
    “Yeah.” Leith shrugged too. “Arthur, what did I do besides boxing? I asked Marian and Ava earlier, but they weren’t much help. Didn’t I have any hobbies?”
    “You went to school and had a job in my bar,” Arthur said, smiling and sniffing a little ostentatiously. “It’s a nice place. You worked the bar, waited tables, and did a little clean up. It gave you enough income so you could afford your books and school. And your training costs, since you insisted on boxing.”
    Leith searched his mind. He didn’t remember ever being behind a bar, much less working one. Or going to college, for that matter. He’d talked about his plans to go while he was in prison, but last he knew, all he had was a high school diploma