Vision of Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

plenty of guilt to go around.”
    “Guilt?” I echoed. “Guilt about what? Aunt Eve, what happened to you?”
    But it was too late. She was gone , and I was being gently woken up by Uncle Mark.
    “Hey , Bristol, you there?” He nudged my arm.
    I nodded groggily and stretched out in my seat. It was dark now , and we were off the highway. I tried to take in where I was, but it was hard to make out any details.
    “Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to conk out. Where are we?” 
    “Not too far from home,” Uncle Mark answered. “You must have been really tired. You’ve been out for three hours. Looked like you were having a heck of a dream.”
    “Must have been,” I mumbled.  
    “Look, there’s something I should tell you before we arrive,” Uncle Mark said. Was this the part where I would be told that I would be living in the barn and rooming with Harry the horse or Patty the pig? “My father, your grandfather , lives with us. He’s old and his house burned down some time ago so…”
    “Let me guess,” I said . “He has a difficult and challenging personality?”
    “Uh , yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” Uncle Mark said. “In fact, that is exactly how my wife used to describe him. Wow.”
    “I don’t suppos e you care to expand?” I asked.
    Uncle Mark considered it. “I could, but I don’t want to scare you. Besides, he’s not all that bad. Not really. If you take him with a grain of salt, he can be kind of amusing.”
    “Uh -huh,” Simon said. “So amusing, I heard you laughing at the top of your lungs just last week.”
    “You heard that , huh?” Uncle Mark said. “Listen Bristol, your grandpa can be difficult and challenging, but he does mean well and he loves his family. I know better than anyone. On the outside he’s grumpy and wacky, but inside of him is a kind and gentle man.” He looked at Simon’s reflection in the mirror. “Right?”
    “Absolutely,” Simon agreed. “Grandpa probably ate him for breakfast.”
    Zack hooted with laughter. “Yeah, with a side of bacon!”
    “No , oatmeal,” Simon amended. “Grandpa eats oatmeal. And grapefruit.”
    Uncle Mark shook his head. “Maybe we should have moved in with you in Manhattan and not the other way around.”
    I snorted and looked out the window as we pulled into the driveway of my new home. The house looked nice enough, although it was hard to make out much detail in the dark. There was a weeping willow tree in the middle of the front yard.
    We managed to bring my things inside despite being tripped up by two dogs who were introduced as Spock and Larry. I took a moment to look around. I was in the family room. There was a large, flat -screen TV with a brown leather couch and two recliners facing it. I glanced up to a giant family picture that looked like it was taken about five or six years ago. I could see Eve had been the center of the family. She sat in a chair, holding Zack, who looked to be all of two. Both mother and son had wide smiles plastered on their faces. Simon stood to her right, leaning in and giving a nearly toothless grin. His glasses looked thinner, and they needed to be pushed back, but he was clearly happy standing there with his mother. Behind them all was Uncle Mark, looking like the most content man in the world. As far as he was concerned, back then, he had it all.
    “She’s beautiful,” I said. 
    “She was,” Uncle Mark agreed. “She would’ve loved to have you here. I’m so sorry you never got the chance to talk to her. She could make even the worst days better.” He stared at the picture for a second more before looking away and shaking his head. “I know I sound sappy, don’t I?”
    I smiled. “No, you sound like you loved her. It’s beautiful.” I looked up at Aunt Eve’s picture again. “And if she were here, she’d tell you she probably felt like the luckiest girl in the world when you two got married.”
    Uncle Mark looked at me, his eyes wide in bewilderment.