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“Of course you can What is it, dear?” she asks kindly
“Can we talk in the kitchen, please?”
My father turns his head back to the television
My ives me an odd look “Of course” She carefully sticks her needle into the cloth and gets up
I lead the way to our little kitchen There is a big pot of Solyanka on the stove and the kitchen is full of the war in sweet sour broth I turn around to face my mother
“What is it?” she asks
“Mrs Komarov approached me at the church”
My ossip want?”
“She wanted to tell hter has never written to her ever since she left,” I whisper
“Hardly surprising She’s probably having such a good time in America, she has no ti and her—”
“Mama,” I interrupt fiercely, “she said she had spoken to the other farairls”
My ?”
I shake irls contact their faht? I don’t think we should continue with the program, Mama”
My mother closes the door For athe closed door, her shoulders bowed Then she walks to a wooden chair and sits down
I stare at her as she gazes at the floor The seconds tick by, neither of us speaks The only noise is the muted sound of the television in the front roo of the Solyanka
Then Mama lifts her head and looks me directly in the eye “I don’t believe that woht she is a mean-spirited, jealous, malicious liar She doesn’t want our family to have the wealth that her family have received that she enjoys until today If it is true that she believes sohter and there is sorao to the police? I’ll tell you why She doesn’t because then …” She lifts her right hand and rubs the tip of her thuertips “The lovely money will stop”
“But Mama—”
Mama shows me her palm “I’m not finished”
I snap my mouth closed
“She may think I am stupid, but I am not I know exactly why she made up this story She poured poison into your ear less than a week before you leave because she was trying to scare you She was hoping you will bring sha on our prorateful brat who took the first opportunity to abandon her parents We raised you better than that You are a good daughter You will not forget or forsake your old parents, will you?”
I s hard and drop my eyes “No, of course not”
“Good Then ill talk no ive her the satisfaction of knowing you believed her even for a second We gave our word and we have been living on the ram ever since There is no way to back out of it” She stands, walks over to the stove, and starts to stir the pot of food “You o and fetch your sister and brother from the park Lunch is almost ready”
Like a wooden puppet, I walk to the back door and open it A blast of freezing wind tugs at the scarf around my head I quickly pull the hood of my coat over my hair and close the door In the distance, I can see h
My h the thick snoards theht ball of tension in my stomach I know Ma in Mrs Ko I kno that I can no longer rely on my parents They refuse to see what is as plain as the noses on their faces
My sister, Tatyana, is the first one to spottowards me
I watch her run, her face wreathed in a big grin As she gets closer, I see how rosy her cheeks are fro truck In another year, she will be twelve and ram
She reaches“What’s the matter with you? You look like you ate a bear’s ass”
“Ugh … don’t talk like that If Mama hears she will be furious”
“Mama is not here, is she?” she counters cheekily “Anyhy do you look so upset? Is it because you will be leaving in a few days and you’re going to miss me much too much?”
I pretend to grin “Yeah, that’s exactly it Mama wants both of you to come in for lunch”
“Oi, Butt Head,” she screa time!”
Hunter
youtubecom/watch?v=SQTHB4jM-KQ
Eddie-the-mooch stumbles out of O’Malley’s tavern and because he is drunk, he doesn’t seehim down Not that I couldn’t He’s a little fast, but he’s no match for me, especially when he is drunk He shuffles off toward his home, which happens to be an upstairs room in his sister’s house If I were her, I’d kick him out and count myself better off She must have a soft spot for the little weasel
It takes rab his arht, but I’ off like a track star “Eddie, what a coincidence Good to see you”
; He glances at me, and the blood runs from his face He knohat this is about Weasels always knohen the fox has them cornered “Hunter, hey, Hunter,” he says “Great to see you, great How’s it going?”
“It’s going great for me,” I reply “But I’m not so sure about you”
He blinks as if he doesn’t knohat I’ about weasels, they can put on the right face no matter what
“Don’t go soft on ure it out, that will just s harder for you”
His eyes bulge “Harder, how?”
“Well, going back and explaining why I’m here, well, that could take a lot more time The more time I have to spend, the less patient I becoet out of hand”
I can feel that Eddie is getting ready to bolt He’s searching for a way to distract me, just for a moment If he can lead me off the path for a moment, he’ll take off He doesn’t care that I’ll catch hi to sober hiht You couldn’t tell it was already December
“Hey,” Eddie says “You got a smoke?”
I give Eddie exactly what he wants I let go of his arm Eddie is candy