Abomination by Bradley Convissar Read Free Book Online Page A

clamor for seconds moments after finishing his firsts.  She could have worked in the finest Manhattan restaurant if she desired to, designing new recipes or preparing hundred-dollar-a-pop meals.  He sometimes felt her ability was wasted on just the three of them.  He had asked her about it once, several years ago.  She had smiled and said that cooking for the three of them was work enough and rewarding enough.  She didn’t want to be mother to everyone who passed through the doors of a fancy restaurant, forced to please hundreds of strangers.  She preferred healing the aches and bruises and pain of children at school.
    Once every mug was empty and every plate licked clean, Jamie moved the dirty dishes to the kitchen.  He was getting ready to rinse them off and load them into the dishwasher when the cell phone at his hip twittered.  He looked down at the caller ID on the front display.  It was Samantha.  He looked up at his mom, who was entering the kitchen carrying the uneaten portion of the apple pie in one hand and the empty coffee pot in the other.  “I have to take it.  It’s Sam.  Probably wondering when I’m going to be over.”
    “Go,” she said, shooing him away with the pie.  “Steve will help me finish cleaning.”
    Phone ringing, Jamie launched himself from the kitchen and loped up the stairs, taking two at a time.  He didn’t answer the call until he was in his own room, away from prying ears.  He was an adult, but being home and around his parents instilled him with the same insecurities he had known when he was in high school.  He didn’t like talking to his girlfriend where his mom or Steve could overhear snippets of his conversations.  It made little sense, but teenage anxieties rarely did.
    Sitting on his bed, Jamie opened the phone.  “Hey,” he said, a smile on his lips.
    “Hey,” a feminine voice on the other end said. 
    Jamie looked down at his watch.  It was seven o’clock.  His bags were already packed, meaning he could leave in five minutes.  “I’m just finishing dinner now,” Jamie said.  “I’m going to leave in a couple of minutes.  I should be in Philly by eight fifteen.”
    This was countered by a violent sneeze and some sniffling on the other end of the line.  Jamie frowned.  “You okay?” he asked.
    “I don’t think you should come down this weekend, Jamie,” Samantha said.  “I’m not feeling great.  And I’ve got a lot of studying to do.  Two tests on Monday and I have to start getting ready for the mock boards.”
    “That’s never stopped me before.  I can make you tea and soup.  And rub yo ur back for you.  And who better to help you study than someone who just did all of this crap last year?”
    “I don’t want you catching this from me, Jamie.”
    “You’ve known me for over three years, Samantha.  Have I ever gotten sick before?  I’m not afraid of a little cold.  Besides, I haven’t seen you in almost two weeks.”  Last week she had been in Chicago with her parents for a family reunion. And they had decided to spend Thanksgiving with their respective families. “I’m not going to let your little cold keep me from seeing you.  It’s already been too long.”
    “It’s not a good time, Jamie.”
    Suspicion began to creep into the back of Jamie’s skull.  He said nothing for several moments, turning the volume on the phone all the way up and listening intently.   He could hear a television in the background, but that wasn’t all.  He could also hear a man laughing in concert with the generic laugh track accompanying whatever it was he was watching.
    “He’s there, isn’t he,” Jamie hissed.  It wasn’t a question.  “You promised me, Sam.  You fucking promised me.”
    “It’s not what you think, Jamie,” Samantha returned, her voice suddenly defiant.  “He’s just here studying with me.”
    Jamie could hear the lie in her voice.  In the pitch, in the timbre.  If she had been standing before