Titanic Summer by Russell J. Sanders

Author:Russell J. Sanders [Sanders, Russell J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult
ISBN: 978-1-64080-186-8
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-03-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHUY’S WAS awesome, as usual. I spent the time, between bites, giving Mom the G-rated story of my vacation. She demanded I tell her everything, but there were a lot of details I just wasn’t going into. I still felt like she knew most of it, but I didn’t want a big discussion. Partly because I wanted to enjoy my Chuy’s and partly because I didn’t want all the negatives flooding my soul once again. So my account was basically, “The Basketball Hall of Fame was neat, Boston was fun, Portland was really pretty.”

“That’s where that beautiful little bowl came from, isn’t it? I just love it so much. It was very thoughtful of you to get it for me.” Then she added, “But you shouldn’t have.”

That’s what her voice said. Her eyes showed she was happy as a clam (another of her grandmother’s expressions) that I brought her that gift.

“No sweat. I saw it and decided it was you.”

“Well, I’ll cherish it. It came from my thoughtful son.” She touched my hand.

“Enough, enough. It’s not like I bought you a diamond necklace.” I pushed her hand away, but I smiled to let her know that I wasn’t mad. “Now, where was I? Oh yeah—the CAT ferry was incredible, Nova Scotia is beautiful….”

“So it is, is it? And have you gotten used to the idea of your dad living there?”

“Yeah,” I said, not adding anything else. But I had to wonder what she thought about the upcoming big gay wedding. With her stance against gay marriage, I’d expect her to be livid about Dad’s plans to play house with his Paulie. But Mom had never said a word to turn me against Dad, so I knew she wasn’t about to spout anything against him now. I could maybe pull it out of her, but I pushed that thought away. We were having fun here.

“And,” she sighed, “I have to ask. Did your Dad drag you all over Halifax because of his beloved Titanic?”

“Don’t ya know it. But it was bearable.”

Mom had had her fill of Titanic too, so she thankfully didn’t ask me to elaborate. She did, though, ask if I had found out anything about the other Jacob Hardy.

“I got mostly nowhere.” I gave her a quick rundown of all the details. “I hit a dead end, and I guess I just gave up.” And other things raised their ugly heads, I didn’t add.

“But you were so excited when you told me about finding Jacob’s grave.”

What could I say that wouldn’t lead into the spilling of my guts about my quarrels with Dad? “I was. I guess I just got distracted on the rest of the trip.”

She bought that without further explanation. Thank God.

I grabbed a mint on my way out the door. Mom handed me the car keys. “Now, drive carefully,” she admonished. I had only been driving for a few months, so she was always a little nervous when she let me take the wheel. But she was right about one thing, I was ready for that driving test.

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