Strange but True by John Searles Read Free Book Online Page B

Don’t you? Answer me!”
    Any response Melissa can think to offer is certain to sound flimsy when faced with such fury, so she stays quiet. All this crying has left her eyes and nose running. She feels drained of energy as she joins her shaking hands together, prayerlike under the steering wheel, in an effort to still them.
    â€œSay something!” Charlene screams. “Say something before I strangle your scrawny little neck!”
    â€œCut it out,” Philip says. “Give her a chance.”
    A heavy silence falls over the car then. Nothing can be heard but the hiss of hot air from the dashboard vents. If it weren’t for Charlene and Philip, Melissa wouldn’t have bothered with the heat at all. As it is, her skin feels slick and slippery with sweat beneath her clothes. No matter what she has done these past nine months, Melissa has been unable to cool down. There have been ice-cold showers. There have been nights in bed with the covers kicked off and the windows wide open. Those efforts work for a short time, but sooner or later, the fever that burns inside of her returns. It is the baby, Melissa knows. It is all part of this strange miracle.
    â€œWell?” Ronnie’s mother prods.
    Finally, Melissa opens her mouth and says the only thing she can think to say, “It’s true.”
    Charlene is about to start screaming again, but Philip cuts her off, “Melissa, you know very well that it can’t be true. It’s not possible.”
    â€œYou don’t believe me now,” she tells him, pressing her hands tighter together and trying to keep her voice from cracking. “But you will.”
    â€œI don’t understand,” he says. “Do you have some sort of blood test or something to show us?”
    â€œNo. I made the decision to stay away from doctors, because I know they won’t understand either. That’s why I was hoping Mr. Chase—”
    Before she can finish, Charlene and Philip sputter over each another. “You’re nine months pregnant and you haven’t even gone to a friggin’ doctor!” Charlene shouts at the same time Philip asks, “Then what proof could you possibly have that would make us believe?”
    Melissa’s mind is so muddled and fatigued that she hears a hybrid of these two things: you’re proof pregnant could possibly have a friggin’ doctor believe . It takes her a moment to disentangle and decipher each statement before she tells Charlene, “No. I haven’t,” and Philip, “You will believe when I have the baby.”
    â€œWhy?” he asks.
    â€œBecause you will see its resemblance to Ronnie.”
    â€œThat’s it. I’m getting the hell out of this car!” Charlene yanks the door handle and steps outside, somehow managing to snag her arm in the seat belt. There are a few seconds of mad wrestling until she dislodges herself and shouts at Philip, “Are you coming or not?”
    â€œIn a second.”
    She lets out a guttural sound from the back of her throat that signals her absolute exasperation with him too. “Suit yourself, stupid,” she says, then leans her flaccid, blinking face into the car and looks deep into Melissa’s eyes. “You, young lady. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
    Melissa swallows hard and shakes her head from side to side. “I loved your son. And I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
    Charlene’s only response is to slam the door.
    Neither Melissa nor Philip says a word as they watch her stomp up the walkway, pound up the front stairs, then disappear into the house. When the porch light goes dark, Melissa feels disappointment scrape against her insides.
    Maybe, she thinks, maybe if I hadn’t told them so much at once, or maybe if I hadn’t played the tape of Chantrel. Or maybe … maybe … maybe… Her mind spins out all the possibilities until finally settling on the fact that it is