Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney

Author:Caroline B. Cooney [Cooney, B. Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-89183-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

“We have homework,” said Jared, glaring until Mattu tore himself away from the scene in the kitchen and came reluctantly after him. Up the stairs they went.

Voices followed them: Emmy sobbing, Dad yelling, Mom pleading for peace. It was like a representation of the world: one country paying for its greed, one country fighting back in rage, one country trying to stop them.

Jared could hear Mopsy cooing in her bedroom. Didn't she ever understand anything? Didn't she realize that Dad was coming apart this very minute, in this very house? That Dad was so close to smacking somebody—

Too close.

Jared changed his mind about how to handle this. “Come with me, Mattu. Whatever I say, you go with it. Got it?” Jared stomped back downstairs, planted himself in front of his father and said, in a voice that sickeningly resembled Mopsy's, “You know what, Dad? I had this brilliant idea. If we turn on the outdoor spotlights and light up the whole driveway, you can give Mattu his first driving lesson tonight. The sooner he can drive, the sooner they'll be independent.” Jared took his father's hand, the way Mopsy ten times a day took Alake's.

Mattu was right on cue. “You mean it? I can start driving? Tonight?” he cried, as if he too had spent sixteen years waiting for this minute.

Jared scooped up the car keys and handed them over.

“I will watch,” said Andre, moving to Dad's other side, and he and Jared swept Dad out of the kitchen, down the back hall, past the laundry room and into the garage.

Jared pressed the button to raise the automatic door and hit the floodlights.

“Why didn't you tell me these lights were here?” said Celestine, tagging along. “I would always want them on.”

“I forgot,” admitted Jared. “We like the dark so we can see the stars.”

Dad showed Mattu forward and reverse, warming to the task because he didn't want dents in his beloved car and because he was a born teacher. A hundred yards backward, a hundred yards forward, Dad and Mattu traveled the driveway over and over.

Andre said to Jared, “You are a good son.”

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