The Things I Want Most by Richard Miniter

Author:Richard Miniter [Miniter, Richard F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-57076-5
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1998-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Tuesday morning was a repeat of Monday. Mike wet his bed, screamed and cursed, and had to be manhandled. Then, in the evening, I dropped Liam and Mike off in Highland at the karate school at about seven and went back for them at nine.

Later Mike went upstairs to get ready for bed, and after checking on my hunting gear for the morning, I settled down to read a book. But I had barely turned one page when Liam sat down across from me and asked, “Did you know Mike and I have a karate test right after Christmas?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Liam put one hand under his chin. “He’s really upset about being tested.”

I sighed and sat back, thinking. “No, I think you’re wrong. He loves karate, and he’s always talking about how good he is. If anything, Mike’s overconfident”

“No, Dad,” Liam said, “he’s not. He’s given up. He doesn’t even want to practice.”

“Huh? You two just came back from karate practice.”

“Dad, Sunday afternoon I went down to the advanced extra session, and I brought back a flier announcing the test. When I gave it to Mike that night before bed, he read it, then started yelling at me. Yesterday afternoon I asked him to practice and he wouldn’t, and tonight he went, but he barely went through the motions for half an hour before he walked out into the hallway to wait for you.”

“Liam, all this seems exactly backward. People usually start practicing, not stop, once they find out they have a test coming up.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah, well, that might be true, but this is the way it is with him.” Then patiently, as if he were talking to a simpleminded, doddering old fool, “So you should figure out what’s wrong in his head and fix it.”

When he left I tried to go back to my book, but finally put it down and walked into Mike’s room.

“Hi, Mike.”

He avoided my eyes, just lay back on his bed, listening to his music.

“Mike?”

“What?”

“Do you want to finish the Hardy Boys book?”

“No.”

“Okay,” I said, not moving.

Eye contact for the first time. “Mike, do you want to talk about karate?”

“No!” he shouted.

I sat down on the edge of his bed. “Let’s talk about the karate test.”

His face set itself into a frown, and his eyes quartered away from me. “No.”

“Are you still interested in karate?”

He shuffled around to get his legs away from me. “I’m good at karate.”

“I know you are, Mike. So you shouldn’t be afraid of a test.”

“I’m not afraid.”

I should have told Sue what Liam had said, but she was busy in her office and I forgot. Instead I left her working, set the alarm for 4:00 A.M., and just went to bed.

By the time the two of us actually saw each other again, it was late in the afternoon of the next day, long after she had had to wrestle with this new demon in Mike’s room all alone, long after I had shot a ghost outside the beaver pond, and long after a hundred or so men had trooped up out of the darkness.

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