Milosz by Cordelia Strube Read Free Book Online

ignorant,’ he says finally.
    â€˜Don’t tell Mum. She’ll call the school and I’ll get into more trouble.’
    â€˜How do you know what’s in the notes if they don’t pass them to you?’
    Robertson digs in his pocket for a crumpled piece of paper and hands it to Milo. Scrawled on the paper in black marker is ‘Robertson blows Mr. Hilty.’ ‘They always call me a fag but they haven’t said I blow Mr. Hilty before.’ Robertson speaks without malice, as though he’s not hurt by the slander but understands that it’s intended to humiliate.
    â€˜Whose handwriting is that?’ Milo asks.
    â€˜Billy’s. He can’t write for shit. Mrs. Bulgobin has to get him to do his homework over so she can read it.’
    â€˜This is evidence,’ Milo says, handing the note back to him. ‘You could get Billy Butthead into serious trouble if you hand this over.’
    â€˜Can I give a spider plant to Mrs. Bulgobin?’
    â€˜Of course.’
    â€˜She doesn’t like me.’
    Robertson frequently declares that people don’t like him. Milo has tried asking, ‘What makes you think that?’ but the alienation is firmly entrenched, and now he thinks his father doesn’t like him either.
    â€˜Mrs. Bulgobin brought a hamster to school. She’s leaving it in the classroom, which isn’t right. Hamsters are nocturnal; they shouldn’t be disturbed during the day. When I told her, she said Puffy would adapt. I said how would you like it if somebody put you in a cage and forced you to stay awake when you should be sleeping?’
    â€˜What did Mrs. Bulgobin say?’
    â€˜Nothing. She was handing out worksheets.’
    â€˜I think hamsters in classrooms are pretty common,’ Milo says.
    â€˜That doesn’t make it right.’
    Milo approaches Tanis while she’s hanging laundry. In the old days, before the increased debt load, she would use the dryer. He hasn’t seen her hanging it in the evening before.
    â€˜They’re talking about rain,’ he says.
    â€˜It’s May, monsoon season is supposed to be over.’ She struggles with a sheet. He grabs one end and stretches it away from her. She tosses him a clothes peg. They work side by side hanging the remaining clothes. Tanis seems unconcerned that he is handling her undergarments. The simplicity of her panties moves him: no lace, no leopard spots or zebra stripes, just dove grey. He has admired them flapping on the line, but feeling them is a revelation. He shoves a pair in his pocket.
    â€˜Has he talked to you about the hamster?’ she asks.
    â€˜Yes. That’s unfortunate.’
    â€˜That’s all he talks about, not what those little pricks did to him or about his dad leaving. It’s all about Puffy.’
    â€˜Maybe he can’t talk about the other things.’ Milo knows he must remain silent re Billy’s note and the alleged blowing of Mr. Hilty. ‘Would it be possible to rescue Puffy?’
    â€˜What do you mean “rescue”? It’s a classroom hamster.’
    â€˜What if we offered to buy it?’
    â€˜They’re not going to sell the classroom hamster. And anyway, they’d just get another rodent, and Robertson would obsess over that one. It’s hopeless.’ She shakes the last towel hard before pegging it on the line. ‘He’s not supposed to feel hurt, but he does.’
    â€˜Have you tried calling Christopher?’
    â€˜Why would I do that?’
    â€˜Don’t you have to sort out visitation rights? And you could tell him about the bullying.’
    â€˜There’s always bullying. Billy’s mother phoned and gave me an earful, threatened to press charges.’
    â€˜Did you tell her Billy hit Robertson in the head with a basketball?’
    â€˜Of course. “Not my Billy,” she said. “He wouldn’t do that. Sometimes them other boys get rough but not