as bad as I thought.”
Tree nodded.
Dumb music started playing.
Tree took the deepest breath of his life and forgot everything he’d been practicing for the last ninety minutes. Sophie was right there with him, messing up.
Tree had no idea how this would help him in basketball or in years to come. But it sure was nice to be so close to Sophie.
“It’s weird here now, huh?”
Tree took his tie off and said it to Curtis, who was lying on the couch at Dad’s with an empty pizza carton over his face.
“I mean, with Mom and Dad and everything. . . .”
“It’s weird,” Curtis agreed, not moving the carton.
Tree flopped into the chair.
“I’m here
all
the time.” Tree wanted to make this point. He felt like a soldier that had been fighting a battle on his own, just waiting for fresh troops to come in and give him a hand. “Sometimes I’m not sure what to think.”
“I’m not, either.” Curtis took the carton off his face, looked inside, ate the last bit of cheese. “We went to Mom’s house tonight. Me and Larry. Larry called it Munchkinland.”
Tree nodded.
“We helped her trim the tree.” Curtis sighed. “She told the ornament stories. This one we got on that Christmas farm in Iowa. This one we got in Bermuda.”
He didn’t mention it was like being at a funeral, remembering the dead.
Didn’t tell Tree the next part, either.
How Mom kept asking them, “
Are you all right?
”
What do you say?
“No,” Curtis had said finally. “I’m not. I’ll be all right. But this is hard, Mom.”
“Why did you buy this house?” Larry asked her.
“It was the only one I could afford!”
“
Why did you get this dog?
” Larry wouldn’t let up.
“Because I wanted company! You’re blaming me for this divorce, and that’s not fair!”
Tree took his shoes off, studied his big toe sticking out of his sock. Looked at Curtis. “Why do you think they got divorced?”
Curtis crushed the pizza carton. He wanted to get back to school, where things seemed normal. Tree looked kind of pitiful to him. As the oldest, he’d seen and heard more of the fights. The ones about his father’s job were always loud.
“
Why
,” Mom would shout at Dad, “are you content just running a sporting goods store? You have so many gifts that you’ve never developed.”
“I
like
sports.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“Not everything in life has to have an explanation!”
And she would storm off saying that
she
wasn’t going to just settle for whatever came.
She
was going to improve herself.
“Go for it,” Dad would yell.
The next morning, they would be in the kitchen with faces like cement.
Curtis sighed. “I don’t know how it happened. They just changed. They stopped doing things together that they used to do. They stopped laughing. They began to have really different lives. Dad worked mostly; Mom worked, went to school, and rearranged the furniture.”
Tree half laughed. “Remember that time Dad came homeand sat where his brown chair had always been, and fell down and started shouting?”
“I thought he was going to punch a hole in the wall.”
“And then I’d meet him at the door when he came home and tell him if Mom had changed stuff around while he was gone.”
Curtis nodded. “You were always good at things like that.”
They looked at the scrunched-up pizza box.
“Do you think,” Tree asked, “they’ll change their minds? I mean, if Dad learned to understand her more, they could get back together maybe. It’s not like they hate each other.”
“I don’t know, Tree Man. I don’t think so.”
“I wish they’d waited till I was in college.”
Curtis smiled. “They might have killed each other by then.”
“Do you know the secret to fighting a war?”
Grandpa asked Tree the question as they were folding the laundry. Grandpa always dove deep doing laundry.
Tree didn’t know.
“You’ve got to hold on to the things you know to be true, set your mind to a
Tree nodded.
Dumb music started playing.
Tree took the deepest breath of his life and forgot everything he’d been practicing for the last ninety minutes. Sophie was right there with him, messing up.
Tree had no idea how this would help him in basketball or in years to come. But it sure was nice to be so close to Sophie.
“It’s weird here now, huh?”
Tree took his tie off and said it to Curtis, who was lying on the couch at Dad’s with an empty pizza carton over his face.
“I mean, with Mom and Dad and everything. . . .”
“It’s weird,” Curtis agreed, not moving the carton.
Tree flopped into the chair.
“I’m here
all
the time.” Tree wanted to make this point. He felt like a soldier that had been fighting a battle on his own, just waiting for fresh troops to come in and give him a hand. “Sometimes I’m not sure what to think.”
“I’m not, either.” Curtis took the carton off his face, looked inside, ate the last bit of cheese. “We went to Mom’s house tonight. Me and Larry. Larry called it Munchkinland.”
Tree nodded.
“We helped her trim the tree.” Curtis sighed. “She told the ornament stories. This one we got on that Christmas farm in Iowa. This one we got in Bermuda.”
He didn’t mention it was like being at a funeral, remembering the dead.
Didn’t tell Tree the next part, either.
How Mom kept asking them, “
Are you all right?
”
What do you say?
“No,” Curtis had said finally. “I’m not. I’ll be all right. But this is hard, Mom.”
“Why did you buy this house?” Larry asked her.
“It was the only one I could afford!”
“
Why did you get this dog?
” Larry wouldn’t let up.
“Because I wanted company! You’re blaming me for this divorce, and that’s not fair!”
Tree took his shoes off, studied his big toe sticking out of his sock. Looked at Curtis. “Why do you think they got divorced?”
Curtis crushed the pizza carton. He wanted to get back to school, where things seemed normal. Tree looked kind of pitiful to him. As the oldest, he’d seen and heard more of the fights. The ones about his father’s job were always loud.
“
Why
,” Mom would shout at Dad, “are you content just running a sporting goods store? You have so many gifts that you’ve never developed.”
“I
like
sports.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“Not everything in life has to have an explanation!”
And she would storm off saying that
she
wasn’t going to just settle for whatever came.
She
was going to improve herself.
“Go for it,” Dad would yell.
The next morning, they would be in the kitchen with faces like cement.
Curtis sighed. “I don’t know how it happened. They just changed. They stopped doing things together that they used to do. They stopped laughing. They began to have really different lives. Dad worked mostly; Mom worked, went to school, and rearranged the furniture.”
Tree half laughed. “Remember that time Dad came homeand sat where his brown chair had always been, and fell down and started shouting?”
“I thought he was going to punch a hole in the wall.”
“And then I’d meet him at the door when he came home and tell him if Mom had changed stuff around while he was gone.”
Curtis nodded. “You were always good at things like that.”
They looked at the scrunched-up pizza box.
“Do you think,” Tree asked, “they’ll change their minds? I mean, if Dad learned to understand her more, they could get back together maybe. It’s not like they hate each other.”
“I don’t know, Tree Man. I don’t think so.”
“I wish they’d waited till I was in college.”
Curtis smiled. “They might have killed each other by then.”
“Do you know the secret to fighting a war?”
Grandpa asked Tree the question as they were folding the laundry. Grandpa always dove deep doing laundry.
Tree didn’t know.
“You’ve got to hold on to the things you know to be true, set your mind to a
Similar Books
