Responsible by Darlene Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

poster child for Honesty week.”
    â€œYou’re right,” he said in a low voice. “I messed up royally, and I’m sorry, but things are going to change around here. I’m going to change.”
    â€œYeah, right.” I couldn’t help it. I gave a snort of laughter, and then I sucked in a breath because it hurt.
    Dad looked at me without saying anything. Then he turned back to the pancakes.
    We ate breakfast in silence. I looked at my distorted reflection in the toaster. The bruises on my face went from red to purple with some black in places. There was a big bandage by my ear, covering the stitches.
    â€œYou did the right thing,” Dad said suddenly.
    â€œSo if it’s the right thing, how come I had to have part of my face sewn back together?”
    â€œI didn’t say it was the easy thing. I said it was the right thing.”
    â€œOh, yeah. I forgot I’m talking to Mr. Honesty, Mr. TV celebrity. So are you getting your own TV show, Dad? Am I going to see your face on the side of a bus with ‘Do the right thing’ written underneath?”
    â€œCut the bull,” Dad said. “All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me. I didn’t go looking for those reporters. They came looking for me.”
    â€œI didn’t see you hiding, Dad.”
    He didn’t answer at first. He stared at me, and I could see his jaw tighten as he ground his teeth together. “Yeah, you’re right, Kevin. I didn’t hide. Like you said before, I don’t have a job anymore.” He kicked at my sneakers with the toe of his boot. “You can forget about new sneakers. I don’t have the money to get the car fixed. I don’t have the money for next month’s rent. So I figure, yeah, maybe somebody sees me on TV. Maybe they think there’s an honest guy and they offer me a job.”
    â€œThat worked real well.”
    His hand moved, and I thought for a second he was going to smack me one. But he didn’t. He cracked his knuckles instead. Then all of a sudden he reached down and grabbed me by the arm. “Stand up.”
    A rainbow of swirling colors swam in front of my eyes. “Hey, what did I do?” I said.
    â€œStand up,” he said again, pulling me to my feet.
    I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from making any noise. There was no way I was going to let him know how much it hurt.
    He dragged me into the bathroom, which was barely big enough for the two of us, and we stood in front of the sink. “Look at yourself,” Dad said.
    I took a quick look at my beat-up face.
    He put his hand on the back of my head and forced it toward the mirror. “Look. At. Yourself.”
    I tried to twist away, but he had his other hand on my arm, holding on so tight I could feel his fingers squeezing through my shirt. The pain went up a couple ofnotches. I could feel the sweat on my scalp, and for a second I thought I was going to puke pancakes on his boots. He might have been the same size as me, but he was stronger and I was one giant bruise. I looked down at the grubby sink. There were still little bits of hair and foamy soap in it from him shaving.
    He let out a breath. “You know what I did when I found that money, Kevin?” he said.
    â€œYeah, the whole freaking town knows what you did with it. You took it to the police station because it wasn’t yours.”
    â€œNo,” he said in a low voice, and then he let go of me.
    For a second the little room whirled around me like I’d twisted myself around and around on a swing and then let go and gone spinning in the opposite direction. I grabbed the edge of the sink with both hands.
    â€œI put it in my pocket and I took the car over to Melanson’s to get it fixed.”
    I looked at him then. “You did what?”
    â€œThere was no name. No wallet. And there was enough money to get everything done so the car would pass inspection. There was enough