Read Online All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin - Free Book Online

Pfft.’
    ‘But, Leo—’
    ‘But nothing! Not everything is conspiracy. I used to always have to say that to your father, too.’
    I decided not to point out the obvious – that Daddy had been right to be paranoid. He’d been shot to death in his own home.
    Nana continued. ‘It’s nice that anyone’s taking an interest in your brother. Because from the family’s point of view, your brother is a muzhik, a nothing. He’s like a woman or a child. No one would bother with him.’
    And yet Jacks was bothering with him for some reason.
    ‘Anya! I can see your furrowed brow. I only meant no one will shoot your brother or get him in any kind of trouble. It wouldn’t be honourable. These men at the Pool used to be your father’s captains and foot soldiers. And one of the best things about your father, God rest his soul, was that he took care of people. They loved your father, and they respected him in life, and they do what they can to honour him in death. This is the reason Jacks finds a job for your brother. You do understand that, don’t you?’
    I unfurrowed my brow.
    ‘Good girl,’ she said, patting me on the hand.
    ‘Maybe I should go talk to Jacks at least?’ I suggested. ‘Make sure everything’s above board.’
    Nana shook her head. ‘Let it be. If you go down there, it will only humiliate Leo. He will lose face in front of the other men. And besides, Pirozhki himself is a nobody, and no threat to anybody.’
    She had a point. ‘I’ll tell Leo at dinner that you said he should take the job,’ I said.
    Nana shook her head. ‘In two years, you’ll be in college and I’ll be—’
    ‘Don’t say it!’ I yelled.
    ‘Fine, my dear, have it your way. I’ll be elsewhere. My point is, isn’t it best that you let Leo come to some decisions on his own, Anyaschka? Let him be a man, my darling. Give him that gift.’
    As a peace offering, I made macaroni and cheese for the second time that week. I told Natty to go get Leo, but he wouldn’t come to dinner. I brought the bowl to Leo’s door. ‘Leo, you should eat,’ I said.
    ‘Are you mad?’ he whispered. I could barely hear him through the wood.
    ‘No, I’m not mad. I’m never mad at you. I was just worried before.’
    Leo opened the door a crack. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. His eyes filled with tears. ‘I pushed you.’
    I nodded. ‘It’s OK. It wasn’t very hard.’
    Leo’s mouth and eyes clenched shut in an effort to stop himself from crying. I stood on tiptoes so that I could stroke his back. ‘Look, I brought you macaroni.’
    He smiled a little. I handed him the bowl, and he started scooping the yellow tubes into his mouth. ‘I won’t go work at the Pool if you don’t want me to.’
    ‘The truth is, I can’t stop you, Leo,’ I said, somewhat ignoring Nana’s advice. ‘But once the clinic reopens, I think you should work there again. They need you. And—’
    He hugged me while holding the bowl, and a few macaroni tubes fell to the floor.
    ‘And if anyone at the Pool makes you uncomfortable, you should quit.’
    ‘I promise,’ he said. He set the bowl on the floor, picked me up and spun me around the way our father used to.
    ‘Leo! Put me down!’ I was laughing so he spun me around a couple more times.
    ‘Let’s go out tonight! You and me and Natty,’ he said. ‘You don’t have school tomorrow, and I’ve got vouchers so we can get ice cream.’
    I told him that I wished I could but that I was supposed to go out with Scarlet.
    ‘I love Scarlet,’ Leo said. ‘She can come, too.’
    ‘It’s not that kind of thing, Leo. We’re going to Little Egypt.’
    ‘I like Little Egypt,’ Leo insisted.
    ‘No, you don’t. The one time you went, you said how noisy it was. You got a migraine and had to leave after five minutes.’ This was the truth – the head trauma had left Leo quite sensitive to noise.
    ‘That was a long time ago,’ Leo insisted. ‘I’m better now.’
    I shook my head. ‘Sorry, Leo. Not tonight. Just