3 Ghosts of Our Fathers by Michael Richan Read Free Book Online Page B

“Sure is
good. I’m gonna wind up eating it all if you don’t fight him for it, then
you’ll get none.”
    Sean looked at Garth; he could see
the hunger in Garth’s eyes. He wanted Garth to have the bread, but he knew
Garth would never start the fight. So he pushed him hard enough that he fell to
the floor.
    Predictably, this enraged Garth.
He leapt to his feet and charged Sean. Sean pretended to fight back, but at
seven years old he could easily have beaten Garth had he wanted to. Garth threw
punches and Sean took them. He let Garth climb on top of him, swinging. Garth
was crying, partly from pain, partly from hunger, and partly from anger. Sean
felt his little fists pounding into his stomach. He raised his hands to defend
himself but let Garth make contact with each punch. Sean felt like doubling
over, but he couldn’t with Garth on top of him. He tried to grab Garth’s arms
to stop the swinging, but Garth had turned into a machine, running on
automatic, starving and determined to have the bread. Sean felt the pain from
the punches combine with his own hunger and humiliation at having to let his
brother do this to him just to satisfy Frank. As Garth’s punches slowed, he
started to cry and rolled away from Frank so he couldn’t see him, pushing Garth
off.
    “Pathetic,” Frank said. “What a
pussy.”
    Frank tossed the bread onto the
floor where Garth lay, panting and sobbing. “Here you go. Eat it now, in front
of me. I wanna make sure he doesn’t get any.”
    Garth grabbed the bread and began
chewing it. Sean quieted his crying; he didn’t want either of them to hear how
angry and upset he was. After a few moments, he could hear Frank stand up.
    “Now, get out of here!” Frank yelled,
walking towards them. Garth was on his feet and out the kitchen door
immediately. Sean raised himself up on one arm but felt the pain in the side of
his abdomen where Garth had made several successful punches, and he winced.
Frank walked over to him and kicked his arm out from under him; he went back
down. He grabbed his arm, afraid it might be broken.
    “Out,” Frank said. “Or the next
one’ll be on your ass.”
    Sean raised himself up despite the
pain and ran towards the door. As he walked down the steps that led into the
yard, he saw Garth disappear into the open door of the garage.
    He stumbled through the backyard,
walking towards the garage. He knew he needed to talk to Garth. He wanted more
than anything to fall down on the cool grass and just rest, but he could hear
Garth sobbing in the garage and wanted to go to him, and he felt like putting
distance between himself and Frank.
    As he walked through the door opening,
the smell of old wood that had been baking in the sun greeted him. The garage
had always smelled like this, old and musty and dry. Even though the sun was
starting to set and it was getting a little darker outside, the garage still
retained the heat from the day.
    Garth was at the back of the lit
area, under a wooden bench. “I’m sorry,” he said as he gulped air between sobs.
    “It’s OK,” Sean said, sitting down
on the floor, holding his side.
    “Did I hurt you?” Garth asked.
    “No,” Sean lied, “a little runt
like you couldn’t hurt a fly.”
    Garth didn’t reply and kept
crying. Sean leaned back, thinking it might help the pain. It didn’t.
    “What are you going to eat?” Garth
said, still under the bench.
    “I guess nothing,” Sean said.
    “We could sneak in later,” Garth
offered. “We could sneak up in the middle of the night, after he’s gone to
sleep.”
    “Maybe we’ll do that,” Sean said,
rolling over onto his side. He looked into the back of the garage, into the area
where they never went. His eyes rested on the piles of junk. There was just
enough light still coming through the door that he could see the various pieces
of it.
    “I’ll do it,” Garth said. “I won’t
get caught. He can’t hear me.”
    Sean thought he’d reply to Garth,
telling him that