The Wild Things by Dave Eggers Read Free Book Online

him at once, and he didn't want that. Better to wait it out. Something grabbed his mother's attention.
    "Huh," she said, looking out the window. "See that? You know what that is, Max? Hold your breath." The traffic was stopped on three sides of the intersection as a line of black cars drove by. Max held his breath.
    After the cars were gone, it occurred to Max to tell his mother about what he'd learned in Mr. Wisner's class.
    "We did planets today."
    His mom said nothing. Claire said nothing. It was as if Max hadn't actually spoken. But he was sure he had spoken.
    "Did you hear?" Max said.
    His mom was squinting into the distance, as if still arguing, in her mind, with Claire, or her boss, or with Max's father. She did this every day, usually while driving.
    "Mr. Wisner said the sun's gonna die," Max said. "After you and me and everyone's gone." He looked to his mother for some response, but the profundity of what he said seemed to have no effect at all. "Did you know that?" he asked.
    Still no response. He turned around to Claire, but her eyes were closed. Tinny music escaped from her white headphones.
    Max turned back to his mom. "Can we stop it?"
    Now his mom turned to him, finally focusing all her attention.
    "You know, Max," she said, "I really hope you treat women decently. I hope you never have a relationship with a woman you don't respect."
    This didn't seem to have anything to do with planets or the sun, but Max thought about it for a second and answered, more quietly than he intended, "Okay."
    The black cars now gone, she pulled into the intersection.
    "Really," she said. "I mean it."
    "I won't," Max said. "Or I will." He couldn't remember which way he was supposed to answer.
    They drove in silence for a while. Max began deciphering the message his mom had given him. She did this periodically, tossing similar sorts of advice to him. He had starting writing it down, hoping it would make sense at some future date.
    "Just try and be a decent person," she added, finishing the matter. He nodded and looked out the window, spotting the city far beyond, the city where his father lived, looking like a tiny pile of grey rocks in the sea.

CHAPTER IX
    Max decided to go for a quick bike ride before dinner. He was going to tell his mom he was leaving, but then didn't, oh well. She was busy with Gary anyway. He was lounging on the couch, drinking red wine and watching one of their musicals. Every night was some musical.
    Max burst out into the cold night and sped down the driveway. He had to think and he could only think while biking or building things, and he wanted to be biking, to think with the blood loudly filling his head.
    He rode one-handed, then no-handed, then with his head slung back, squinting at the emerging stars. He whistled quietly to himself, then louder, then hummed, then sang out loud. It was a quiet night and he wanted to slash it open with his own voice.
    "Aw, shut up, you," a voice said.
    Max recognized the voice. It was Mr. Beckmann. Max had just passed him and his dog, Achilles.
    Max circled his bike around.
    " You shut up, old bones," Max said.
    Mr. Beckmann laughed out loud. He was an older man, maybe eighty or a hundred, who lived down the road and was often seen walking, slowly and steadily, for hours at a time, through the streets and paths and forests, always with Achilles, a dog easily as big as Max and with an aristocratic bearing. The animal was so perfectly bred and well cared for it looked like a dictionary etching of a German shepard. Achilles knew Max well and was already laying on his side, urging Max to scratch his stomach.
    Max dropped his bike and did so.
    "So Maximilian," Mr. Beckmann said. "How the hell are you?"
    "Okay I guess," Max answered. "I got in trouble again."
    "Oh yeah? What'd you do this time?"
    Mr. Beckmann's eyes were dangerously alive, punctuated by brows so thick and mischievously arched that he seemed at all times to be plotting a great and dastardly plan.
    Max told him