An Annoyance of Grackles (Applied Topology Book 3) by Margaret Ball

Author:Margaret Ball [Ball, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-23T22:00:00+00:00

I didn’t really talk to Andros until the next day; it had been quite late when Ingrid revealed what she’d been concealing from me, and we were all tired and testy. Also, Lensky was expecting me. I figured the rest of the explanations could wait until Saturday. Early Saturday.

On Saturday morning, after breakfast at the apartment, Ingrid took off with the explanation that she and Colton had planned to continue working on the flight algorithm over the weekend. It might even have been true. At any rate, she went off in her little Honda – not teleporting; that hangup of hers must have been a nuisance – and I made fresh coffee for Andros and me.

“Andy,” he corrected me the first time I used his name.

“Andy,” I conceded. I was hardly going to argue if the kid wanted a more normal name. Especially since nearly the first thing I told him was to pronounce my name Thah-lya instead of Thay-lya. Not that that was any closer to normal, but at least it didn’t sound like “failure.”

“So. I know Dad’s been giving you a hard time. Was there anything specific that made you decide you couldn’t take it any longer, or was it just the cumulative effect?”

Andros – Andy – flushed. “He started in again Thursday night. The usual. I’m a wimp because I never fight anybody, I must be afraid to play football for my school, I’m probably a fag, I’m a disgrace to the family. You know. You’ve heard it all before.”

I had, and it was one reason why I ducked out of Friday night dinner whenever possible.

“But Thalia… this time…” He looked down and almost whispered. “Thalia, I wanted to hit him. I almost did. That’s why I had to get out.”

“Oh.” That had not been among my reactions to Dad’s constant bullying, but then, I was significantly shorter and slighter than he was; it wouldn’t have been an option. Andros – Andy, dammit – was big for his age, maybe a head taller than our father. And despite Dad’s insinuations that he was a wimp and a weakling, I happened to know that he worked out with weights in the school gym on a regular basis. If he’d slugged Dad, our father would probably have gone flying across the room.

“Well, if you ever do hit him,” I said after thinking it over, “could you do it on a Friday night, so I can watch?”

“Thalia, it’s not funny!”

“No, it isn’t. Sorry. I’m kind of a jerk sometimes. So did you leave because you were afraid the temptation to hit him would be too much?”

“Sort of. I figured either way, it would come to the same thing. I mean, what if I did hit him? He’d throw me out, wouldn’t he? This way I’m out of the house and I don’t have to feel guilty about it.”

“No, you can just feel guilty about the fact that Mom’s in hysterics and you’re planning to throw away your chance of graduating high school.

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