The Lighter Side of Life and Death by C. K. Kelly Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

catalogs if Nina was anything like my mother. “Hi, Mason,” he calls, running up the driveway.
    “Don’t run, Burke!” Nina shouts after him. “Be careful. Stay out of the men’s way.” Burke shoots a look at the moving guys and stops in his tracks. “Thank you,” Nina says nicely. “Just wait there for me.”
    Burke’s good at this. He sways from side to side, keeping himself busy, as Nina opens the trunk. More boxes, of course. Dad tells her to let us take them, and just then Brianna climbs out of the car, holding her cat, Billy. The cat’s nearly as old as I am but moves and looks like a panther. Apparently he suffers from a serious attitude problem too. I’ve already been warned against petting him.
    “Maybe you should put him in the bathroom,” I advise. “So nobody trips over him.”
    Brianna tosses me an impatient stare. “I know.”
    Right. She knows everything.
    Nina takes Burke’s hand and walks into the house with him. Brianna follows and Dad and I trail behind with the last of the boxes and a collection of plants. “Thanks, guys,” Nina says, swiveling to look at us. “I can’t believe this is it.”
    “It’s not,” Brianna counters. “There’s still the
unpacking
.” She turns to march upstairs, black cat cradled in her arms.
    “Can I look at my room?” Burke asks, hopping on one foot as he peers up at Nina.
    “The movers are finished in there,” Dad says with a nod.
    “Go ahead,” Nina says. She starts for the kitchen with Dad in tow and I guess I could go back to bed or battle Brianna’s cat forspace in the shower but instead I follow Burke up to Dad’s old office to catch his reaction.
    “You like this color?” I ask.
    “Green’s my favorite color,” he says, showing all his teeth. He darts into the middle of the room and tugs at the tape on the nearest box. It twists between his fingers, folding stubbornly into itself, resisting his efforts.
    “It won’t open,” he complains.
    I bend over, yank the tape off in one go and toss it aside.
    “You have green in your hair,” Burke says, pointing. He begins pulling action figures out of the box and lobbing them onto his mattress.
    “I know.” I automatically reach for it. “I can’t get it out.”
    “Rub it with baby oil,” Brianna advises from behind me.
    “That works?” I turn to look at her. She’s standing in the hall without her monster of a cat, arms folded in front of her.
    “It worked for my friend,” she says flatly.
    I swear, this is the most constructive conversation we’ve ever had.
    “Mason, can you open some more boxes for me?” Burke asks.
    “I’ll do it.” Brianna walks swiftly into the room, her eyes shrinking as she glances my way. “Don’t worry about it.” She’s wearing this sour expression on her face, like she just caught a whiff of fresh puke, and I laugh as I watch her tear open a second box.
    “You’re gonna break a nail,” I say. I can’t help it. If the girl was any more uptight it’d be a medical condition.
    Brianna doesn’t reply. She just keeps tearing at boxes like she’s on a mission. Meanwhile Burke’s yanking out anything remotely interesting, littering the floor with superheroes and racecars. It’s deep green chaos and I whistle as I back slowly out of the room. If this is what Saturday mornings are gonna be like from now on, I should sleep late.

six
    Nina cooks this beef and rice thing on Sunday night. We eat in the dining room because the kitchen table’s too small for five. The next night Dad’s late but Nina already knows to expect that; she puts his dinner in a Tupperware container in the fridge. Afterwards Nina says that she realizes Dad and I haven’t been eating scheduled meals like they have and that she knows sometimes I’ll have my own plans.
    “I’ll let you know if I’m not going to be around,” I tell her. “How does that sound?”
    “Perfect,” she says. “You could let me know some things you like too—or things you don’t,