The Road to Amazing by Brent Hartinger Read Free Book Online Page B

election is all about. I don't understand how more people
can't see that,
how everything we've all worked so long and hard to achieve, all
the progress we've made—"
    "Min?"
    She nodded. "Right, sorry, I went off,
didn't I? The point is, those aren't meaningless words, what I said
before."
    "Okay," I said, "so Kevin and I get to
decide what our marriage means."
    She nodded emphatically.
    "What if we disagree?" I
said.
    "Then you compromise. You work it
out."
    I didn't say anything. I almost kicked
another stack of stones, but at the last second, I decided not to.
Down on the water, the seagulls still cawed, but now I heard
another sound too: voices. It was Ruby and Nate, probably on the
beach over below the deck, laughing about something. So back at the
house, everyone else was waking up too.
    "Kevin wants to have kids," I said to
Min.
    "Really?" she said, surprised. She
knew how I felt about the dream-destroying little monsters. "But I
thought you talked that all out."
    "Well, yeah, now he says he doesn't
want them. But he used to want them. I think he only says that now
because he knows it's what I want."
    "Kevin is a big boy. If he says he's
okay not having kids, you should believe him."
    "But the point is," I
said, "don't I need to be open to the possibility? Isn't that what
being married is all about? And I don't want to be open to that
possibility. There are lots of possibilities I don't want to be open to. And
there are other possibilities that maybe I do want to be open to that Kevin
might not."
    "Are we talking about sex?"
    I had to think about that. Kevin and I
had a pretty great sex life, but we were definitely monogamous —
that was important to us both. Still, I also knew that we were both
reasonable guys, and if one of us was ever truly unhappy, we'd
figure something out.
    "We're two guys," I said. "Sex is
actually one of the things I'm worried least about."
    "That's totally sexist, what you said
there, but I'm going to let it slide for the time being. So it's
not sex. Then what are you worried about?"
    "Other than the kid thing? That's it,
I'm not quite sure." I thought for another second. "I want to make
a difference in the world — help the homeless and cure AIDS, that
kind of thing. And I have these vague dreams about traveling.
Getting lost in South America, hitchhiking through Europe, living
in a remote lighthouse for a year — although I know that last one
would probably be a complete disaster, cold and impractical, and
not nearly as romantic as it seems."
    Min smiled.
    "And obviously I want to make it as a
screenwriter," I said. "I mean, that's why Kevin and I moved to Los
Angeles, and I still haven't had any success at all, and the city
has turned out to be something of a dystopian hell-hole. But I sure
as hell don't want to give up on that dream yet, and maybe not
ever."
    Min nodded.
    "You only live once, you
can't take it with you, and all that?" I said. "I don't want to be
the guy who goes to work, and comes home and sits in my plush media
room watching other people do cool things, like the couples
on House Hunters who sell everything and move to some great new city. There's
a line in The Glass Menagerie where the main character, Tom—"
    "I know who the main
character in The Glass Menagerie is."
    "Tom says, 'People go to
the movies rather than moving. Hollywood characters are supposed to
have all the adventures for everybody in America.' Which I
absolutely love. It's, like, my favorite line of all time. I want
to move too, not just go to the movies." I thought about it.
"Although I do love movies, so I also wouldn't mind a plush media
room. I also like House
Hunters . Or at least House Hunters International ."
    Min rolled her eyes. "Is it my turn
now? Can I talk?"
    "I already know what
you're going to say. You're going to say that Kevin is a great guy,
which he totally is. I mean, I literally just told you how he moved
to Los Angeles with me so I could pursue my dream of screenwriting.
And all