Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes

Author:Kevin Henkes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

7 • MITCH

He took his grandfather’s rarely used bicycle from the garage—with its nearly flat tires and loose, squeaky seat—and rode off without a real plan. He pedaled hard and fast in the direction that Jasper had gone. He yelled Jasper’s name a few times but became too self-conscious and decided to search silently.

He wished that he could simply ride and ride and ride and not talk to another person or need anything or anyone again. Ever. Ride and ride and ride until despair had lost its hold.

Not long into his search, he heard a dog barking. He followed the sound, swerving sharply onto a narrow, winding dirt road that led to the lake. His front tire caught in a rut and he fell, scraping his leg on a rock and getting dirt in his mouth. But he lost little time, rising quickly and running down the road, gripping the handlebars with a vengeance, pulling the bicycle along with him as if he and the bike were one.

In a clearing, he saw a girl perched atop an overturned rowboat. A dog was sitting tall beside her.

Jasper! he thought. He threw down the bicycle and approached the girl warily.

“He’s mine,” said Mitch, tipping his head at the dog. It surprised him how easily the lie had slid off his tongue.

“Prove it,” said the girl.

A panicky feeling melted his knees, “Jasper. Come, Jasper,” he said, bending slightly and slapping his thighs the way he remembered the intruder son doing.

Mitch’s gentle command brought the dog from the girl to him in a flash. He coiled the long leash and held it so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palm. He would not let go. “Stay?” he whispered tentatively.

The girl jumped off the rowboat. She frowned at Mitch, then placed her hands on her hips and shot him an exaggerated, pouty expression. “Okay,” she said, walking toward him. “You win. He’s obviously yours.”

“Sorry.” He noticed that her eyes were shiny with tears.

“I even thought of throwing his tags into the lake,” she confessed. “Never to be seen again.”

Mitch hadn’t read Jasper’s tags. If the girl had tested him on Jasper’s address, he would have failed. He would have had to come up with a story of some sort quickly.

“Can I pet him one more time?” asked the girl.

“Yeah. Sure.”

She came forward and lowered her head to the height of Jasper’s and let him cover her face with licks. She scratched him behind his ears. “I would have changed his name,” she told Mitch. “I would have called him Kernel. With a K, as in popcorn. Not Colonel with a C, as in the army or navy or whatever. Cute, don’t you think?”

Mitch shrugged.

“My parents won’t let me have a dog, and it’s all I want. You are so lucky.”

If you only knew, thought Mitch. “I’ve got to go,” he said. He turned to leave.

“You are so lucky,” she repeated loudly as he walked away.

Her words were so ironic they stung, like stones hurled at his back.

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