Three Sisters Read Online Free PDF Page A

last thousand years. What’s the point of having a scale if it’s not precise?”
    “Oh, precisely.” Karen found an opened can of pineapple juice in the refrigerator. “You want some juice?”
    “Not now. Food interferes with my concentration.”
    “Nothing interferes with your concentration, David.” She sat down at the table, placing her goldfish in the plastic carrying bag next to the glass of juice.
    David and his mom lived in a little apartment over a grocery store. Karen liked being there; everything was small and cozy and neat.
    She first knew Davey in elementary school when the Kurshes lived down the block on Morningale. That made her and Davey neighbors, but not exactly friends. She was willing, he wasn’t. He palled around with four or five other boys. They played war games and had a secret club in a tree house where they had nailed up a huge sign: NO GIRLS
    ALLOWED.
    When the Kurshes sold their house and moved away, Karen didn’t miss David; she hardly gave him another thought.
    In eighth grade, they met again. “Aren’t you Karen Freed?” he said, coming up to her during a break in gym.
    She saw a big boy with a mop of bushy hair, wearing a T-shirt that said, No Nukes Is Good Nukes. “Davey Kursh?”
    “David, please.”
    “Sure, Davey.”
    He looked pained. “I mean it, Karen. I prefer David.”
    “Rightey-o, Davey.”
    He rolled his eyes up into his head. “Why do you hate me?”
    “Just a little never-too-late revenge for the sign on your tree house.”
    “What sign?”
    Coach blew the whistle and they separated. They were on opposing volleyball teams. “What sign?” he yelled, punching the ball her way.
    All that week he’d come up to her in the halls
    and say, “What sign? What sign? I don’t remember any sign.”
    Finally, she said, “I’ll give you a hint. Still hate girls?”
    In answer, he gave her a big smile.
    “You really don’t remember that sign?”
    He raised his hand. “I swear. Total blankout. You’re going to have to tell me, Karen.”
    She had to admit he’d had a change of heart. The boy who wore a No Nukes T-shirt was not the boy who’d played war games. And he definitely didn’t hate girls. That year, a lot of kids were giving parties and pairing off. Davey and Karen started getting invited as a couple. It was easy being with him, so without their ever actually deciding to go together, it happened. They became David-and-Karen.
    After a while, he told her about his father, who had a rare disease of the nervous system. When Mr. Kursh first found out what his trouble was—that was when they lived down the block from the Freeds—he was able to work out of his house. He was an accountant, so he didn’t really need to go to an office. “He got worse, sicker,” David said. “And everything cost tons of money—doctors, tests, therapy, all that stuff.” He shrugged. “We couldn’t afford to live over there on Morningale anymore, so we moved. My father’s in the Vet’s Hospital now.”
    “When do you see him?”
    “Weekends.”
    “That’s really rough, David.”
    “Yeah. It is.” His eyes got red.
    After that conversation she felt close to him. He
    came over to the house a few times, ate with the family. “Cute boy,” Tobi said.
    “Agreed,” Liz said, “but not old enough to be really interesting.”
    “Oh,” Karen said.
    “Still,” Tobi said. “Old enough for Karen.”
    Stand-up comedy, with her as the straight woman.
    “David,” she said now, “do you realize we’ve been going around together for almost two years?”
    “Looooong time.” He twisted harder and the scale pinged ominously.
    “David. I want to ask you something. What kind of person do you think I am?”
    “You’re okay.”
    “Many thanks.”
    “Well, what do you want me to say?”
    “It isn’t what I want you to say, Davey. The point is, what do you want to say?”
    “You’re okay.”
    “Thanks, oh thanks. You, too.”
    She wandered into the living room. There was