Trex by Christyne Morrell

Author:Christyne Morrell [Morrell, Christyne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

The first time Trex called me Mom, I opened my mouth to correct him. He’d woken from a bad dream and was babbling something about monsters. I swept into his room (which was really just a corner of the hotel room) and cradled his warm body, slick with sweat. I remember thinking that he felt just like a real boy, then shoving that thought out of my head. Of course he was real. What else would he be?

And then he mumbled, “Mom.” He didn’t know what he was saying, still in that hazy place between awake and asleep. I almost woke him up and set him straight, but I stopped myself. What was the harm in letting him say the word? What was the harm in both of us, perhaps, believing it? We were each alone in the world. Why not be each other’s family?

I haven’t forgotten for one instant that Trex already had a family when I met him—a real family. I know you can’t just swap out someone’s parents like actors in a TV show. But when we left the lab in the middle of the night, I never looked back. I never learned his biological parents’ names or faces. I was afraid that if I did, they’d become real—to me and to him. Maybe Trex’s dad really was a paleontologist. Maybe not. But that’s the story I stuck with. All because of a T-shirt.

I didn’t become a mother in the traditional way. I wasn’t handed a wailing baby, slimy and red-faced. My child came to me on a metal gurney, unconscious and near death. He arrived as part of my job, a task I was told to carry out. Then taking care of him became my only job. The most important job I’d ever have. And one I clearly wasn’t qualified for.

Who knew parenthood came with such worry, such consuming unease? Who knew it could cause an otherwise-rational person—a scientist!—to abandon all sense? I never intended to become a spy, for goodness’ sake. I just wanted to make sure Trex made it to school that first morning without incident. And then there was Mellie. And Harrison. And an unprecedented drought. And lightning springing from Trex’s fingertips. How could I let him face all of that alone? I’m the closest thing he has to a mother, after all. I’ve always planned to tell him everything, when he’s ready, when the time is right. But the right time is a moving target—always next week, next month, next year. What if he resents me once he learns the truth? What if he sees me differently?

What if he stops calling me Mom?

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.