Read Online Brother by Ania Ahlborn - Free Book Online

ceramic shards off the ground, carefully piling them in the palm of his left hand.
    â€œWhat would be so bad about goin’ to the grandparents’ place anyway?” Misty asked. “What would be so bad about that, huh?”
    â€œI don’t know, Miss,” he said, murmuring toward the floor. “But we ain’t never seen Lauralynn again after she went off there. You wanna go there forever?”
    Misty looked like she was holding her breath in response to his question. Michael looked down to the bits of plate scattered around his feet, his chest suddenly tight. He knew Misty’s answer without her having to say a word. Because anywhere was better than here. He only hoped that in the end he wouldn’t be left on his own.

7
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    R AY COULDN’T REMEMBER being more excited. Wade and Momma rode inside the cab of Wade’s pickup. Ray, Lauralynn, Misty Dawn, and Michael sat in the bed of the truck, chattering like a bunch of chickens, excited to arrive at the Cabell County Fair. Michael had been with them for nearly two years; he’d become part of the family and hardly ever asked about his other parents anymore. To Ray’s chagrin, Momma had stuck him in Ray’s room, and for the most part Michael drove Ray crazy with his endless questions and babyish ways. But today was going to be a good day. Today, Ray was going to spend his savings on corn dogs and cotton candy, and then he was going to make himself sick on the Ferris wheel. He was going to ride that thing until he puked.
    The Fair was a big deal, and Lauralynn and Misty Dawn were wearing matching dresses for the occasion—a set they had outgrown but that Momma still squeezed them into because there was no money for fancy things like Sunday best. Momma’s own mother, Grandma Jean, had given the girls their dresses during a rare visit a few years back. Grandma Jean was meaner than sin, and even Momma looked uncomfortable when Grandma Jean and Grandpa Eugene spent a week at the Morrow farmhouse. Ray had laughed when Misty and Lauralynn had come downstairs in their matching getups. They had pulled their hair up in pigtails and stood at the foot of the stairs, Lauralynn stoic as ever, Misty clawing like a helpless chimp at the fabric that bit into her armpits.
    â€œYou all look like you got tangled in them window curtains,” Ray had cackled, pointing to the ugly drapes that flanked the window of the front room. When Grandma Jean whacked him in the mouth with an open palm, he’d stared at her in a wide-eyed daze. Later that afternoon, Ray had spotted Lauralynn sitting on Grandpa Eugene’s lap on the back porch. The skirt of her new dress was piled up on top of her thighs. Grandpa Eugene’s left arm circled her shoulders to keep her close, his right hand lost somewhere in the ugly fabric of her skirt.
    As Wade’s truck bounced along, Ray tongued his chipped front tooth, remembering the way Grandma Jean’s wedding ring had smacked against the enamel. Lauralynn smoothed the skirt of her too-small dress over the tops of her legs. Her hair shone in the sunlight like a pink-and-gold sunrise. She looked prettier than Ray had ever seen her.
    â€œNow, you know there’s gonna be lots of people,” Lauralynn told them as the truck turned down a rural road. “Lots of chances to get lost. Ray, since you’re the second oldest, you’re takin’ care of Misty.”
    â€œAw, man!” Ray cried, but Lauralynn ignored him.
    â€œMichael, you’re still just a baby, so you stay with me.”
    â€œI ain’t no baby!” Michael protested, but again, Lauralynn wasn’t swayed.
    â€œYou all can keep complainin’ and stay in the truck, or you can keep quiet and have a good time at the fair,” she told them. “So which is it gonna be?”
    Ray and Misty met eyes. She pulled a face at him as he scowled. He supposed it could have been worse—LL could have paired him