Read Online Immortal Max by Lutricia Clifton - Free Book Online

all. Which is why we don’t mention him much. It’s like a knife twisting in her gut.
    â€œGeez, where do you get this stuff, Rosie? That is so . . . 
dumb
.”
    â€œEase off, Sammy.” Beth leads Rosie away from the nest. “Go help Mom, tell her supper’s almost ready.”
    Rosie calls the cats to follow her. Once they’re gone, Max curls up in the grass near the nest.
    â€œIf that’s not proof,” Beth says, “I don’t know what is.”
    â€œDumb old dog.”
    â€œPretty smart, I’d say.” Beth looks at me, eyes serious. “Max’s food and water dish are dirty again. Freshen both of them and bring them down here. He’s not going to leave that nest.”
    â€œWhat? No way! Rosie’s the one who upset Mom, not me. Let her do it, I have a job now.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with you, Sammy?” Beth’s eyebrows scrunch up. “Your attitude sucks lately.”
    Because nothing’s fair! Why can’t anyone see that?
    â€œRemember, Rosie’s only six. She’d just been born when the accident happened, so she has no memories of Dad.” She pauses, shaking her head slightly. “It’s hard to miss someone you never knew.”
    â€œWell, I don’t remember him much, either. And you’re the one who brought Max home, so
you
haul stuff back here.”
    â€œWe tried that, remember? He only responded to you. Not me. Not Mom. Nobody except
you
. And you’ve done a great job with him all these years.” She pauses. “Besides, I’m handling two jobs as it is. And remember, I’m rearranging my schedule so you can work, too.”
    â€œYeah, well . . . it still sucks.”
    Her eyes narrow to slits. “Look, if you don’t take care of Max properly, I’ll tell Mom and she won’t let you take that job.” She walks toward the house, talking over her shoulder. “Twice a day—
fresh
food and water twice a day.”
    â€œThat’s blackmail.”
    â€œYep. And that bird could use some water, too. Grab that old birdbath out of the shed.” She stops, looking at the wild raspberry bushes next to Mom’s garden. “She’s close to food, plenty of earthworms in the grass, but she needs water.”
    â€œI have to babysit a dog—and a bird?” I look at the robin, sitting in a mud-and-stick nest inside a fortress of evergreen branches. “How long does it take to hatch eggs?”
    â€œCouple of weeks, but we don’t know when she started sitting. Could be shorter. Maybe a week?”
    â€œOh. Well, a week’s not too bad.”
    â€œAfter that, she’ll take care of the hatchlings another couple weeks until they’re strong enough to fly. Fend for themselves.”
    â€œTwo to three weeks? No way Max will hang around
that
long.”
    â€œI’ll take that bet.” Beth grins. “And shake it! Supper will be on the table in five minutes.”
    Beth disappears, leaving me with Max. He thumps his tail on the ground and gives me a shaggy grin. His breath smells like squashed bugs. Bittersweet, like sauerkraut. Since he hasn’t been to the house, I decide he probably did eat some. Hot-weather insects are thick. Grasshoppers in the grass. Cicadas buzzing through trees. June bugs chewing on bushes. He’ll eat anything.
    On the long trudge to the back porch, I wonder how a day that started out so good could end up so bad. Just as I got a job that would fix everything, Max had to adopt a bird. Which means I now have
two
new jobs. Since there’s no water spigot at the barn, I’ll have to bucket water twice a day—for a dog and a bird—and haul down Dog Chow.
    I feel like wringing Max’s neck.
    Rosie’s, too.
    And Beth’s—
especially
Beth’s.
    It’s a conspiracy.
    â€œSammy, are you still up?” Mom calls from the bottom of the stairs. “What