Read Online Before They Rode Horses by Bonnie Bryant - Free Book Online Page A

was Michael. He’d stopped being compared to buttons by this time. He’s three years younger than Alex and me, so I guess he was about five and I was eight when this all happened. It was like I’d never much noticed him before, and then suddenly he could play soccer and kick the can with us. He was having a ball at it, and I was beginning to have fun, too, because suddenly there was someone I was always better than. I could always beat him in a race, run faster, jump higher, play better. I found it very satisfying. The fact that my skills—to say nothing of my attitude—often left my little brother bathed in his own tears didn’t bother me in the least. I was number one compared to somebody, and that was all that mattered to me.
    My parents had a different point of view on the subject. I suppose my mother was a little tired ofconstantly having to comfort Michael, and my dad wasn’t too pleased with having to explain to me, every single day, that Michael was younger and it was my responsibility to look after him, not just to beat him. It wasn’t a lesson that sank in very well. To my parents’ credit, they tried not to yell at me about what I was doing. They actually did understand how tough it was for me to be the one girl in a crowd of boys. They thought that if they yelled at me, I’d just start hating Michael. Of course, they were completely wrong there. I couldn’t hate him. He was the only one around I could always beat. He meant a lot to me!
    “
Deborah, I’m trying to give you some pointers here on mothering. It’s really important to understand what’s going on in your kid’s mind. You’ve probably heard a lot about things like grounding and removing privileges and time-outs. Forget that stuff. Keep in mind words like
treat
and
extra television time
and
raise in your allowance,
okay?
”
Stevie said. Then she continued her story.
    Anyway, my parents tried very hard to change the situation. About the only time there was ever total peace in the house was when Mom or Dad was reading to us. We loved to have them read to us. They read anything and everything and we listenedto it all. My favorites were the animal stories, like
Charlotte’s Web
or the Uncle Remus tales. Alex liked stories about history, like
Johnny Tremain
, and Chad would listen to anything that was science fiction. His all-time favorite was
A Wrinkle in Time.
    When we weren’t hearing a good story, that’s when trouble broke out. To be perfectly honest—not that I’m ever
not
perfectly honest, mind you—I was actually being something of a bully to Michael. Somewhere along the line, Mom and Dad figured that this probably wasn’t very good for Michael or for me. That was when they decided to “Do Something about Stevie.”
    That’s what I heard Mom say. She was talking with her mother on the phone. Now, at that point, I think my mother’s idea of Doing Something might have been to send me to reform school. She was pretty fed up with me, so it was my lucky day that Mom was saying that stuff to Granny. Because Granny’s idea of Doing Something had nothing to do with reform school. I could only hear one end of the conversation, and if Mom had known I was sitting on the other side of the wall, I wouldn’t have heard any of it. But I could tell from what Mom was saying that Granny was on my side.
    “Well, of course it’s hard for her.… The boysgang up on her, sure.… What do you mean, ‘make it possible for her to be a girl’?… But Mother, she
is
a girl. I only have one daughter.… Well, I suppose … I suppose I could take some time off.… But where? Who? Oh, I have an idea. Maybe you’re right.…”
    It went on from there, but the rest is unimportant because by then my mother had decided and all it took was a few more phone calls. Believe me, I didn’t move an inch from where I was sitting. I didn’t want to miss anything. I wasn’t exactly sure what was coming, but I knew I was going somewhere with my mother, no