Up High in the Trees by Kiara Brinkman Read Free Book Online Page B

because I didn’t like how it looked.
    Music started playing downstairs. The Otis Redding song about sitting on the dock.
    Cass made Dad promise, no sad music. I think Otis Redding is sad music.
    I went to Mother and Dad’s room. Nobody was there and I wanted to go in the closet, so I did. Then I opened the secret door in the way back and crawled inside. The white stars all over my tie glowed in the dark.
    I heard Leo calling for me and then Cass and Dad were calling for me, too. They couldn’t find me, so Mrs. Franklin from next door had to come over and wait for me to come out. She walked all around the house calling my name, her voice getting louder and then quieter again. I knew that Dad and Cass and Leo went without me.

    Leo wakes me up for dinner. It’s almost six o’clock, he says. If you sleep anymore, you’ll be up all night.
    I’m sweaty from sleeping and my mattress is hot. I try reaching out with my foot to find a faraway spot that feels cool. Next to me, the wet stain from this morning is a smaller, dark blue egg.
    Cass made you mashed potatoes, Leo says. He’s leaning against the door with his arms folded.
    I’m not hungry, I tell him.
    Leo stands there, looking at me.
    What? I ask him.
    Nothing, Leo says. I wanted to tell you. Then he stops. He stands up straight and pushes his hands into his pockets.
    I tried to throw a chair in fifth grade, Leo says. It was the day the spaceship launched. You know, the
Challenger
. We were watching and then it exploded on the TV. Mrs. Shapiro got up and, real calm, she turned off the TV and carried it out of the room. When she came back in, I remember she said, Sometimes these things happen. I hated her when she said that.
    Leo stops again. I wait.
    He says, Dad told me that the people on the spaceship were going to rescue Major Tom—the guy from the David Bowie song—and I kind of believed him. I started thinking about Major Tom floating around by himself in space with nobody to save him. Anyway, I picked up my chair and tried to throwit against the wall, but the chair was heavy and I couldn’t really throw it so I sort of just dropped it and this girl, Angela, laughed at me. I had to go to the principal’s office. I sat there crying.
    Leo takes a step backward into the hallway.
    Anyway, he says, it’s time for dinner. Come on.

    I used to write notes to Mother and hide them in places. I hid the notes in her books, in the pockets of her folded-up clothes, in her medicine drawer, in her pillowcase, in her shoes. If I wanted her to find the note fast, then I had to hide it in an easy place, like her purse.
    I wrote her a note that said:
    To Mother,
    Your name is Louise. Louise sounds like please. Louise please. Please Louise. Tell me what does Sebastian sound like?
    From, Sebby
    This note was not important, so I hid it in a hard place. I folded it up tiny and tight in her silver heart locket that has two small heart-shaped pictures. The pictures are of Uncle Alexander’s face smiling and of Dad’s face not smiling.
    Mother brought me the notes when she found them. Sometimes she answered and sometimes she didn’t.
    It took her a very long time to find the note in her locket. I was in the backyard looking for snails. She sat down with me on the garden wall that’s made out of rocks and she gave me back the note.
    She said, You have a beautiful name. I can’t think of any perfect rhymes, but it goes well with captain, she said, Captain Sebastian. Or stallion. Sebastian the stallion. Or action. Sebastian full of action.

BIRDS

    On Friday, I go back to school. Cass drives me in the green car and drops me off in front.
    Hey, she says, don’t let all the little bastards get you down. She grabs my hand and squeezes it hard.
    I have to run to my classroom to get there before the second bell rings.
    At the front of the room, Teacher’s sitting on her desk with her hands tucked under her legs. She smiles