The Shade of the Moon Read Online Free PDF

fares and ambulances. You won’t convince them, and it’ll only make them
     mad.”
    “All right,” she said. “Jon, there’s nobody looking.”
    Jon made sure she was right. And then he kissed her.

 
     
    Sunday, May 10
     
    Jon was surprised to find Alex driving the claver bus to White Birch. “You driving
     Sundays now?” he asked as he boarded the bus.
    “Picking up extra cash,” Alex replied. “I’ll be home before Matt leaves.”
    Jon nodded and took his seat. It was nice of Alex to give the family some time alone
     with Matt, especially since Matt had never much liked him.
    Smart of Alex, Jon thought, and then out of nowhere, he could hear Julie saying, “But
     my IQ is higher than his.”
    Jon grinned. Julie had loved her big brother, but they fought all the time. One day,
     when Jon and Julie were alone, she told him that she’d overheard her parents talking
     about their kids and what would become of them.
    Carlos, they felt, would either end up in jail or in the military. Fortunately for
     everyone he chose the military.
    Her parents thought her older sister, Briana, might become a nun. Julie knew better.
     Bri was devout, but she loved babies and wanted to have a dozen or more.
    Alex, everyone knew, would go to college and become somebody important. Their dad
     might grumble about him, but even he knew Alex was destined for greatness.
    That left Julie, the youngest. It was then she heard her father say, “Don’t forget,
     her IQ is even higher than Alex’s.”
    But her mother replied, “We’ll find an older man for her, one that can control her.”
    Jon couldn’t believe any mother would wish that, but Julie assured him her mother
     meant no harm. The important thing was that her IQ was higher than Alex’s, even though
     he was the golden one and she was the troublemaker.
    He’d asked her if Alex knew, and Julie shook her head. “He must never know,” she said.
     “Promise me you’ll never tell him.”
    “I promise,” Jon had said, although he couldn’t understand why it was such a big deal.
     So what if Julie was smarter? That didn’t mean Alex couldn’t achieve his dreams.
    But the world had come to an end, and Alex was a grub bus driver and Julie was dead.
     What difference did their IQs make now?
    Jon watched as some of the clavers gave Alex tips. It was nice of them, he thought.
     They had no obligation. Each time one did, Alex tipped his cap and said, “Thank you,
     sir; thank you, ma’am.” Jon grinned. Alex had always had good manners.
    Alex pulled the bus over to Jon’s stop. Jon walked to the front. “See you later,”
     he said.
    Alex nodded, and Jon got off. Mom’s apartment was three blocks away. It was in a good
     neighborhood, as White Birch went. The houses had been converted into two- and four-family
     apartments. There were no drunks or corpses on the street, and the only guard Jon
     saw was more interested in flirting with a grubber girl than protecting visiting clavers.
    Matt opened the door and gave Jon a hug. “You look great!” he said. “You’ve grown.
     More muscle.”
    Matt was thinner than Jon remembered, but it wasn’t sickness thin. It was the leanness
     of someone forever in motion. “You look great yourself,” Jon said. “How’s Syl?”
    Matt shrugged. “She took the last miscarriage hard,” he said. “But she’s back to work,
     and we keep hoping.”
    “Give her my love,” Jon said. He and Miranda found it wildly amusing that Syl was
     working as a domestic. When she and Matt had first married, Syl did nothing but stay
     in their bedroom while the rest of the family did all the cleaning and washing. Not
     that Jon had done so much. Maybe that’s why he was so comfortable having Val do the
     housework. He was used to others taking care of him.
    Mom grabbed Jon from Matt and hugged him even harder. She’d lost weight, too, Jon
     noticed. It would be like Mom to eat less so Miranda could eat more. Jon wondered
     if Matt had noticed