Scattered Links by Michelle Weidenbenner

Author:Michelle Weidenbenner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random Publishing, LLC
Published: 2014-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

I’m at the animal shelter with Katie, standing at the desk where the pimply-face lady, who was our guide, sits. Her cheeks flash red when she sees me. I find a place on the wall above her head and stare. The dogs are barking, and the pee smell makes me want to puke.

“I’m sorry for letting the dogs go free,” I say.

“Do you realize what you did?” she says, her voice louder than it needs to be.

“Yes, she does,” Katie says. “She didn’t think it through. She wouldn’t purposely kill an animal.”

Old pimple face glares at Katie. I turn to go. No one says a word as I leave.

On the way home, Katie tells me that Nat and I are spending the night at Laura’s Saturday because she and Jack have a dinner to go to for Jack’s work. Finally, I’ll get to see Boris.

It takes forever for Saturday to come. It’s definitely not a New York minute. So I stay in my room and study more idioms like sick as a dog, smell a rat, scot-free, water under the bridge, and when it rains it pours. I shiver, reaching for a hoodie in my closet to take the chill off.

On Saturday, I take Boris into the arena and walk with him for almost forty-five minutes. He’s stronger now. I whisper a secret in his ear. “I’m going to ride you tonight.” I want to show Laura that I can ride like the other kids, but I want it to be a surprise. She’s asked me if I wanted to learn, but I said no. I was too scared, but not anymore. Now I’m excited. I figure if the others can ride, especially Megan, then I should be able to too.

Before it’s time to eat supper, I help Laura peel potatoes. It reminds me of when I helped Hannah peel the apples. I think of Pastor and what I did, what I never told Mama. Tears threaten to sting my eyes, but I hurry and think of something else. I’m getting better on the computer, so soon I’ll be able to type the numbers and letters from the back of the photo into the space bar and understand what I see.

After we eat, I get to help with Nat because Laura lets me, unlike Katie who says I help too much, that I need to let her be the mom. Laura lets me bathe, dress, and feed Nat a bottle. My sister looks more like Mama every day, especially as her hair grows, but she’s still tiny for nine months.

When it’s ten o’clock, I say good night to Laura and pretend to go to bed, but instead, I get under the covers with my clothes on and wait for her light to go out. I hear her in the bathroom and the click when she turns out the light. Soon she’s snoring, and I tiptoe in the hallway, grab the flashlight off the hook in the garage, put my on mud-covered boots and my heavy coat, and head out to the barn.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.