Say Goodbye for Now by Hyde Catherine Ryan

Author:Hyde, Catherine Ryan [Hyde, Catherine Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503939448
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2016-12-13T08:00:00+00:00

“I’m going out for a walk,” Pete said to his dad.

His father was in the living room, reading an outdated news magazine, with those funny half-sized reading glasses on. Squinting to see in the dim, golden light from the chair-side lamp.

“Not until you do those dishes, you’re not.”

“I did them.”

His father looked up into his face as if listening for the first time.

“What do you mean, you’re going for a walk?”

“Just what I said, I guess.”

“You never go out for a walk for no reason.”

“I just feel too full, kind of. I thought it might help me settle my dinner.”

“How long you plan to be gone?”

“Not long. Ten minutes. Twenty, tops.”

“All right, well, go then.”

Pete slipped through the front door and out into the world.

It was dusky now, the air still warm and humid, but not so oppressive without the glare of direct sun.

He turned toward town. Toward the liquor store.

As he walked, he fingered the dime in his pocket. And thought about his weekend up until now. Being at the doctor’s instead of home. It felt something like the time his parents had taken him on a vacation to Washington, DC. Pete had loved every minute of it. He’d loved seeing the government buildings, and staying in a hotel, and being Not Home. Then the vacation had ended and Pete had been forced to come back to his dreaded routine and go right back to school.

What does that mean, he wondered, when where you are is exactly where you don’t want to be, and you know it?

He crossed the street toward the liquor store against the light, because there was no one to see him and no cars coming. Then he padded across the parking lot, his sneakers making flapping noises on the hot tar.

He tucked himself into the phone booth and pulled up the telephone directory.

“Armstrong,” he said out loud, running his finger down the A names.

He found it right away. “L. K. Armstrong.”

He dropped his precious dime into the slot and dialed, allowing the rotary dial to pull his finger back into place after each number.

She picked up on the fourth ring.

“I hope I didn’t get you away from something,” Pete said.

“Pete?”

“Yes, ma’am. It’s me. But it’s not an emergency. I’m okay.”

“Did you go home?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not really sure. It didn’t go like I thought it would at all. I really don’t understand it. And maybe that’s part of why I called. ’Cause you’re good at figuring out stuff like that. Much better than I am. But that’s not the main reason I called. Mostly I called because I thought you might be worried about me. Even though I know maybe that’s not true. I mean, why should you worry? I’m not your kid. I’m not really yours to worry about. I guess what I’m saying is that I was hoping you were worried about me.”

A brief pause, during which Pete realized he was talking over any chance of finding out.

He kept going.

“It would be nice

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.