Read Online Born to Rock by Gordon Korman - Free Book Online

Future” had been the original title of the Sex Pistols’ classic “God Save the Queen.” Melinda called it the second most powerful punk refrain of all time, after “Bomb Mars Now.”
    I felt its power then, that was for sure.
    When I finally straggled up the driveway, physically and emotionally drained, Dad was waiting for me at the door.
    â€œListen, Leo, before you come in, there’s something you should know. You made the six o’clock news.”
    â€œOh, God! Did Mom watch it?”
    Behind him, I could already see the answer. From our living room carpet rose the upended stern of the sinking Titanic. It was the biggest puzzle my mother owned, a 3-D tour de force of 6,000 pieces, too large to fit on any table in the house.
    â€œHow bad was it?” I asked. “What did they show?”
    â€œNot much,” he assured me. “Just a few seconds on how Purge still has what it takes to get people riled up. Then you came busting through the crowd and made a run at the band.”
    My heart sank. “Could you hear what I was saying?”
    â€œThere was no audio. But your mom reads lips. Anyway, we didn’t figure you were at that press conference for the fine music and genteel company. So? Did you meet him?”
    I shook my head. “A bunch of roadies picked me up and threw me in the garbage. I guess they cut to the weather before that part.” I studied my sneakers. “Dad, I made a total idiot out of myself.”
    He put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. “Let me buy you a drink.” We went into the kitchen, and he poured a couple of Cokes. “I understand why you went. In your place, I probably would have done the same thing. He’s your father, after all.”
    â€œ You’re my father,” I retorted. I hadn’t planned on making a confession, but once it began, the floodgates opened, and the words came tumbling out. “I didn’t go to New York looking for my roots. I went looking for forty thousand dollars.”
    Dad stared in shock. “Leo!”
    â€œHe can afford it! Mom never asked him for any child support over the years. This is the least he can do!”
    He had no further comment. But I had only to glance at him to put the finishing touches on this perfect day. It was plain to see by his sorrowful expression that I had disappointed the only father who mattered.
    â€œDon’t look at me like that,” I mumbled.
    â€œI won’t stop you,” he told me sadly, “because there’s no way I can lay my hands on that kind of money. I talked to a mortgage broker, and he said the most we could squeeze out of the house was another twenty. We can come up with the rest, but not in time for September. Maybe not even by next September.” He took a deep breath. “It doesn’t exactly feel great for me, either. To know that I can’t provide for my son, so he has to go chasing after a total stranger—”
    â€œDad!” I was horrified. “Nobody blames you! How many people could pull forty grand out of a hat?”
    He made no reply, but the answer, though unspoken, hovered in the air between us: Wall Street guys could. This Harvard thing had Dad questioning his decision to quit his high-stress job and buy the hardware store. And rock stars—they had piles of money.
    I realized that the shadow of Marion X. McMurphy hung over Dad’s life just as much as my own. Maybe even more so, considering the circumstances. To have me suddenly pursuing my biological father now , sixteen years after Purge had left the spotlight, had to hurt. I’d just poured salt in that wound.
    â€œWell, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” It was all the comfort I could offer. “They wouldn’t even let me talk to him.”
    But that wasn’t the point, and we both knew it.

[9]
    THE DEFINITION OF “GET A LIFE”: Fleming Norwood phoning me six days before the end of