Keesha's House by Helen Frost Read Free Book Online Page A

3:17 … An alarm
    goes off—you hear it too—each day when the door
    stays closed. Harris is not choosing this. Greg’s wrong.
    I’ve read enough books by now to know.
    Could Greg change his mind? It could take a long
    time. Does Harris have any safe place to go?
    All these questions, and who am I talking to?
    King, the only one listening seems to be you.

SKATING OFF ALONE      MARTHA (KATIE’S MOTHER)
    I dreamed of Katie skating in the blue
    costume I wore when I was seventeen.
    Someone pushed her and she fell—who
    was it? She sprawled on the ice, weeping, between
    two skaters who went sailing on, leaving me—
    I mean her —leaving Katie there. Who’s this Joe
    who lets these kids stay in his house for free?
    Could he be molesting Katie? No,
    Mom, no one’s hurting us. This place
    is safe. She’s clear on that. But why so cold
    toward me? She gets that look on her face
    like I should know what’s wrong without being told.
    In the dream, she slammed down the phone.
    Then she—or was it me?—went skating off alone.

KEESHA’S BROTHER      STEPHIE
    Oh, God! It’s Keesha’s brother in the paper.
    Front page story: Tobias Walker, age
    fourteen, was found dead Tuesday afternoon
    outside a house on Seventh Street.
    An investigation is under way. Witnesses are asked
    to come forward. Oh, Keesha … Her brother
    was a nice kid, decent. The little brother
    she was always trying to keep track of. This paper
    will be in everybody’s hands today—she’ll be asked
    the same questions over and over. My brother
    is the same age as hers. He goes down that street
    to go swimming at the Y every Monday afternoon.
    Mr. Hyde pulled Keesha out of practice yesterday afternoon—
    that must have been when she heard about her brother.
    She left in tears without a word to anyone. What a lonely street
    my friend walks down, with nothing but a paper-
    thin umbrella keeping out the rain. This age
    we are—it’s supposed to be so fun, but if you ask
    me, it’s really hard. When I lost the baby, I asked
    myself a lot of questions, and then one afternoon
    it came to me: I can act my age
    again! I’m a girl with a mom and a dad and a brother
    and no baby , and I better get my research paper
    done for English class. I felt like skipping down the street,
    laughing and shouting: Look, everyone! Our streets
    are paved with gold! Coach Johnson asked,
    What’s gotten into you? I got an A on my research paper
    and I thought the whole world was mine. This afternoon,
    my feet are on the ground again. If someone’s brother
    can be here one day and gone the next at age
    fourteen, I feel like I don’t want to be this age
    too long. I just want to cross the street
    before the light turns red, get home and tell my brother
    to stay inside where he’ll be safe. I asked
    Jason to go with me to the funeral Sunday afternoon,
    and he said yes, although to him it’s just a story in the paper.
    Tobias Walker, age fourteen, found dead. Has anyone asked
    what Tobias was doing on that street on a school-day afternoon?
    Keesha’s brother! Most people will read this and toss out the paper.

INVISIBLE SHIELD      JASON
    I didn’t even know Tobias Walker,
    but this funeral shook me up. He looked
    like a child, lying in that casket, wearing
    a clean white shirt, eyes closed
    like he was sleeping, except he
    had this defiant expression on his face, as if to say,
    I don’t care what you do to me. I wanted to say,
    Come back and try again. Walk
    back here—give the world another chance. He
    almost seemed like he could hear what I was thinking. I looked
    over at his sister, sitting in the front row, arms closed
    across her chest, eyes blazing, wearing
    an expression like a volcano about to erupt. She was wearing
    a dark suit that made her look older than she is. I wanted to say
    something to her that