The War Outside by Monica Hesse

Author:Monica Hesse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2018-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

HARUKO

I don’t regret that, that afternoon in the icehouse. It will sound strange to say, but out of all the things I could and should and do regret, that afternoon is not one of them.

FOURTEEN

MARGOT

IT’S DARK BY THE TIME I GET HOME.

I don’t know how long it’s been since I left. It could have been an hour. It could have been three. I am thinking of the way Haruko pressed her fingers against my mouth. I am embarrassed to be thinking about this instead of worrying about my mother. About my breaking family. But for the smallest of seconds, it felt like all of that disappeared because all of the blood in my body had moved to where the lavender girl was touching my lips.

In the gray of the night I can still make out the silhouette of the sad little planter boxes that won’t grow flowers.

My mother and father sit at the table. My mother holds a wet cloth to the left side of her face. Her blond hair sticks to her forehead. They’ve been waiting.

“I brought more ice.” I hand the ice-filled handkerchief to Mutti, exchanging it for the used one she has pressed against her face. She accepts the trade but makes sure to tilt her head away so I can’t see how badly she’s hurt.

“Margot, we’re glad you’re back,” my father says. His voice is raw. I wonder how long he cried after I left. How long they both did. He gestures to the empty chair across the table. One of the rungs is broken off, it’s the chair he threw to the floor earlier. “There is something we’d like to discuss.”

I know the emotion I’m feeling is hate, but it’s hard to recognize it as that, feeling it toward someone I love. How can he offer me a seat, like he is conducting a business meeting? I look at my mother, waiting for her guidance, but she won’t meet my gaze. I want to tell her we could run. We could run from here right now.

“Margot,” my father says again.

“Margot, sit,” says my mother.

I want there to be a way to run from my father but also bring him along. Get us all away. Finally, I pull out my chair.

“Thank you,” he says. “I want you to know that what happened between your mother and me is complicated. We are both under a lot of stress. Everyone here is.”

“You were going to hit her,” I say. “He was going to hit you,” I say to my mother.

“I have apologized to your mother,” my father says. “It was a horrible accident that will never happen again, and I mean that.” He clears his throat. “And we have made a few decisions. That we think will make things easier on the whole family.”

Can married couples in Crystal City separate? Would they send my mother and me to live in another hut? Thirty-seven houses. Because of my numbers, the way I have tracked all the shipments, I know that there are exactly thirty-seven unoccupied huts at this time.

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.