Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes Read Free Book Online

proud.
    The Hanson girls came by and tried to get me to go into town. I’m pretty popular with the girls. Well, I am good-looking and tall for twelve. But I wasn’t up for it and so I went back to collect the Rat. But she wasn’t talking to Ms Mountshaft now. She was talking to Miss Gabriela Felipe Mendez! They both turned to look at me and I kind of froze.
    â€˜
Este es mi hermano
,’ said the Rat.
    I don’t believe it. The Rat could speak Spanish. That was the Rat for you. She was always sneaking off and learning something new when you weren’t looking. ‘
Tu le gustas
,’ said the Rat.
    Gabriela laughed out loud. What had that damn Rat said?
    â€˜
El es simpático e inteligente. Y yo estoy segura de que va a ser un hombre muy guapo. Tu tienes suerte de tener un hermano asi
.’ Gabriela looked at me and then back at the Rat. ‘Well, Marie Claire. I’ll see youafter the holidays.
Hasta luego
.’
    â€˜
Hasta la proxima
, Miss Felipe Mendez.’
    Gabriela walked toward me. ‘Good luck at your new school, Roberto. I’m sure you’ll do really well.’ She looked right in my eyes. ‘I just want to say, you have been a great student. It has been a pleasure to have you in my class.’
    She looked really sad. I’m not kidding. I couldn’t believe how sad she looked. ‘Maybe we’ll see each other around Winnipeg,’ I said.
    â€˜Maybe.
Adios
, Roberto.’
    Me and the Rat said goodbye to the rest of the teachers and, wishing them a happy holiday, we made our way down to the
Marlin
. I waited until there was no one around before I got her in a headlock. ‘What did you say to Gabriela, you little Rat?’
    â€˜Gabriela? Miss Felipe Mendez to you.’
    â€˜You tell me or I’ll pull your damn head off!’
    In the end she squealed. ‘I just told her …’
    â€˜What? What?’
    â€˜Relax, Roberto, she’s twice your age.’
    â€˜She’s only nineteen. Now you tell me or you’re going back in the headlock!’
    â€˜I just told her you had a crush on her. That’s all.’
    â€˜Oh my God!’
    â€˜And she said you were nice and intelligent and would grow up to be a good-looking guy, but you’re way too young for her.’
    I dropped down in the boat. ‘You drive,’ I said.
    â€˜It’s steer, Bob, not drive.’
    Nice and intelligent. That’s what she had said, not just nice, but nice and intelligent. And good-looking as well.
    â€˜What did you think of the play, Bob? … Bob.’
    Mature even, because I’m very mature for my age. Maybe she’d let me hang out with her. And then when I’m fifteen I could ask her out. Because, when I think about it, there isn’t much difference between our ages. Dad was sixteen years older than Mom when they married. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I’m going to that swimming pool every day over the summer holidays. I’ll go there until I see her and then … Well, I don’t know. But I’ll be there and so I’ll find out.
    Gabriela filled my thoughts all the way up the two rivers. I thought about her as I tied up the
Marlin
and as I got on my bike. The cycle home was all a blur. All I could see was her face next to mine, and my face in her big brown eyes. I was still thinking about her as I rested my bike against the house. Inever thought about what the Rat had said about the Old Man dying until I found him dead on the kitchen floor. And then I thought about nothing else.

Chapter Four
    He was curled up like a child. His hair was neatly combed and he had a spatula in his hand. I was half expecting, desperately hoping, for him to jump up and say it was a joke. I would have laughed. I really would have. But he wasn’t going to. His eyes were open and the life had gone out of them. Death must have come for him when we were at school. Or on the way home from school.