The Survival List by Courtney Sheinmel

Author:Courtney Sheinmel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

AUNT ELISE AND I LAID LOW ON MONDAY. SHE TAUGHT ME some yoga moves. Given her leg situation, she had a modified yoga program. She could sit in a chair and do upper-body work. I followed along, rolling my shoulders, bending from side to side, stretching my back. “Now close your eyes,” Aunt Elise said. “Pay attention to your breath. Inhale through your nose. That’s it. Exhale slowly through your mouth . . . good. Inhale again, slowly. You can lengthen the inhale by counting to three in your head. Now exhale to the count of three. One. Two. Three. Good.”

Later on, I called Juno to see how her first day at the Hogans’ was going. We’d texted a little bit before then. Juno had written that all’s swell, but when she picked up the phone, it sounded like she was in the middle of a zoo, or maybe the aftermath of an explosion.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Totally under control. Don’t you worry,” she said. In the background, someone was making siren noises, and someone else screamed.

“You sure about that ‘under control’ thing?”

“Ha, ha,” she said. “The things I do for you. I’m only in this mess because you said you’d be here with me.”

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“I’m sorry about that stupid guilt trip I just pulled,” she said. “It’s only five more days.”

“Four and a half,” I said.

“The good news is these kids totally distract me from thinking too much about Cooper. Although I still think about him, and what he and Audrey may be doing together right about now . . .”

“Ugh, Juno. Don’t even go there.”

“I can’t help it. I was just thinking that—” She cut herself off. “Oh, God.”

“What?”

“Something crashed,” she said. She started panting and I could tell she was racing back to the other room. “I shouldn’t have left them alone. But they’re eight years old. They should be able to stay alive without me for five minutes.”

In the background, the kids started screaming. Screaming never bodes very well. Then again, if you’re screaming, you’re definitely alive.

“What’s going on in here?” I heard Juno ask, and then there was the chatter of all three kids answering at the same time.

In the harshest voice I’d ever heard her use, Juno said, “That’s enough! No killing! Are you listening to me? Everyone be quiet and listen. No killing is a rule in this house!”

There were mumbles, and I imagined the kids reluctantly assenting to the no-killing rule.

“I’ll tell you something else,” Juno went on. “I am on the phone with Sloane—”

“HI, SLOANE!”

“No, don’t say hi yet,” Juno said. “Sloane just heard you through the phone trying to kill each other.”

“I wasn’t—”

Juno cut off whatever kid was talking (it was one of the boys—either Thomas or Theo). “I’m going to set a timer for five minutes. If you can be quiet and sit with your craft books for that long, then you can say hi to her. Sloane, you still there?”

“I’m still here. I’m amazed that you’re actually setting rules.

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