Read Online Angry Management by Chris Crutcher - Free Book Online Page B

battles, darlin’.”
    “Maybe I’ll do that feature on how cheerleaders get such muscular calves.”
    “The PE department would love it.”
    “Yeah, I could get back in their good graces for my ‘Why I Need PE to Get into Bryn Mawr’ article.”
    “If I remember correctly, the entire text of that article was ‘NOT.’”
    Montana waves without looking back as she exits.
    Interesting kid, Dr. Conroy thinks as the door closes in slow motion against the hydraulic arm. Two years ago, as a sophomore, Montana was a beauty queen. Long dark hair, killer brown eyes, the lean, muscular body of a dancer. Dated the senior tight end on the football team. Came back this year with piercings where most girls don’t know they have places, the famous worm tattoo, and an attitude toward authority that made her new dark appearance look like child’s play. I guess they have to find their places to stand.
     
    Montana opens the front door to see her sister facing the corner opposite the front door. “Hey, little sis, what’d you do this time?”
    “Nothin’.”
    “Put you in the corner for nothin’, huh. Better not ever do anything or they’ll skin you alive. Where’s Mom?”
    “I don’t care.”
    “Maybe I can negotiate your release.”
    “In the kitchen. Making poison.”
    “I’ll put food coloring in it,” Montana says. “So we can trace which food she puts it in.”
    The kitchen door swings closed behind her. “Hey, Mom.”
    Her mother is stirring a pot, doesn’t turn around. “Hi.”
    “How long is the rat in the corner for?”
    “Until she can tell me why I put her there in the first place.”
    How familiar is that? “Mom, do you know what kids like her think about in the corner?”
    “What.”
    “We think about outlasting you. And how we’re gonna get even.”
    “We?”
    Montana rolls her eyes. “Mom, I smeared poop in the dryer, turned it on high, and hid in the closet. I’m one of those kids.”
    “You were one of those kids.”
    “We’ll see,” Montana says. “Now how does Tara get out of the corner?”
    “She tells me what got her in there.”
    “Which was…”
    “Ask her. Montana, don’t get too used to her. I don’t know that we can keep her. Nothing seems to work. I’ve tried every kind of star chart and sticker chart her therapist or I can think of, and she just gets worse. I’m at wit’s end.”
    “Come on, Mom. I smeared shit inside the dryer and you didn’t get rid of me.”
    “We call that poop around here, young lady, and I was younger then. I thought there was a chance for you. This little girl turns everything sour. Everything.”
    Montana walks back into the living room.
    “Hey, little girl.”
    “I hate her.”
    “Yeah,” Montana says.
    “They’re gonna give me away.”
    “Naw, nobody else wants you.” There’s a moment of silence, and Montana sees Tara’s shoulders slump.“’Cept me,” she says. “Let’s get you out of this corner. What did you do to get in here?”
    “Nothin’.”
    “Did that nothin’ have to do with poop?”
    “Prob’ly.”
    “Did it have to do with poop that didn’t go into the toilet?”
    “Prob’ly.”
    “Is it somewhere in your room?”
    “Prob’ly.”
    “Where Mom can’t find it, even if she can smell it?”
    “Prob’ly.”
    “Let’s go get it. Let’s find the poop and put it where it belongs and set you free.”
    Tara is quiet.
    “Little sis, what are you doing? Mom’s not kidding when she says you can’t stay if you keep doing that. And you don’t wanna see Dad get all crazy like he does.”
    “I know.”
    “Stay here a minute.”
    Back in the kitchen she says, “Tara and I are going on a scavenger hunt, okay?”
    “Tara’s in the corner.”
    “Well, I’m taking her out of the corner so she can go find what you put her in the corner for and put it in thetoilet. Then she’ll come in and tell you why she was in the corner.”
    They go into Tara’s bedroom, where Tara sits on the bed, staring at