Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne Read Free Book Online Page A

outrageous behavior. We were, she hissed, a disgrace.
    Deirdre and Leonard and I stood in the parking lot for at least twenty minutes wondering what to do next. We waited for Mom to walk out the door, get into the car, and then drive us away so we could all sulk at home as a group; but she kept not coming out. We discussed going back inside to rescue her, but none of us wanted to risk another scene with Aunt Bet. Leonard agreed to investigate. He walked around to the side of the building and peeked through the window like a spy. When he came back, he reported that Mom was seated across from my father in the booth. They were chatting. “Like old friends,” he said cheerily. The shreds of lettuce had been picked up from the carpet and everything looked pretty normal.
    â€œWe should go back in,” Deirdre said.
    â€œWhy would we ever want to do that?” I said.
    â€œTo get Mom.”
    â€œNo way. Personally, I plan to never set foot in there again. I will certainly not eat there. Ever. In fact, I might not eat another meal for the rest of my life. I don’t know about you, but I could die over this. I could literally die. For real.”
    That was it—my big speech.
    â€œI think it’s kind of funny,” Leonard said.
    â€œFunny?”
    â€œYeah. Isn’t the Fin & Claw where your parents first met?”
    â€œYes,” Deirdre said. She was perched on the hood of Mom’s car in her hat and scarf, looking like a bundled-up beauty queen after the parade had passed by. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
    â€œNothing,” Leonard replied. “I’m just saying.”
    As I whipped my head around, I happened to catch him smiling, more to himself than to anyone in particular. When he saw me looking at him, he dropped the smile, raised his plucked eyebrows, and said, “What?”
    When I didn’t respond with anything other than a mean, all-knowing look, he added, “Wha-at?”
    Mom came striding out of the restaurant and made her way across the parking lot. Her keys were in her fist, and she looked as if she might hit anyone who tried to stop her from getting into the car. For once, she wasn’t smiling. We all hopped down from our perches and waited for her to unlock the doors, but instead of aiming her keys and giving the car the beep, she walked straight up to Leonard and grabbed him by his coat collar.
    â€œIf you ever, ever , pull anything like that again, I will personally kick your sorry ass back to wherever it came from and be done with you. Do you hear me?”
    Leonard just dangled there, unsure of what to say.
    â€œ Do you hear me? ”
    â€œI hear you,” he replied. And that smile, which had rarely left his face since he had arrived on our doorstep, entirely disappeared.

 
    four
    THE HOLIDAYS WERE bearing down on us, and every customer had an appointment scheduled. Like all red-blooded Christians, Leonard and I had a responsibility to get our shopping done before the twenty-fifth of December, so even though Mom was booked, she agreed to drive us to the mall and then pick us up afterward. I knew from past experience that if I wasn’t waiting outside Sears and in plain sight at the appointed time, she would leave without us and we’d have to find our own way home. That was the deal.
    I’ve always considered myself an expert at the timing and execution of my weekly expeditions to the mall. I would make the usual rounds, stopping at the Gap, Foot Locker, Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret, Barnes & Noble, the Candle Corner, Dollar Bob’s, and still have time to get a slice and a Coke at the cheesy Pizza Hut that was built to look like someone’s idea of an authentic Italian villa. I could be in and out of those places like a mad bee flitting from flower to flower, ready to sting anyone who got in my way. But Leonard had insisted on coming along with me, and though I did manage to lose him in a