Read Online Last December by Matt Beam - Free Book Online Page A

the whole rest of the time that I was there. And the crazy thing is, Sam, even though he kind of scared me when he did that, I think I knew exactly how he felt.
    Chaos Theory
    By the time school ended that day, Sam, I was seriously seriously seriously hungry, so I just ran home as fast as I could. Ma works as a secretary at a vinyl company, Monday to Friday, nine to five,so she wasn’t there when I got home. But Mrs. Crapenter was, and she stopped me right in front of our apartment because she heard me coming up the stairs, and I guess she’s got really good ears, because she was standing right in front of our door, ready and waiting for me.
    “I thought I heard someone come in. So … your mother is starting to really show,” and I said, “Um … yeah—” I didn’t really want to talk about Ma’s pregnancy, especially with Mrs. Crapenter, but she doesn’t seem to notice those sorts of things, and so she said, “I guess you are going to have to be the man of the house now, with—what’s the fellow’s name?—Michael … gone,” and I didn’t know what to say, and she sort of just pissed me off with her tone and everything, so I said, “No, I’m NOT going to be the man of the house,” and she lifted her head like she was inspecting me or something and said, “Yes … I guess those are rather high expectations,” and I just shrugged because I didn’t care what she said, and then she sighed. “Well, at least you won’t be the baby of the family anymore,” and I said, “I’m not a baby, if you hadn’t noticed,” and she smiled, but like she didn’t mean it, and then she said, “No, Steven. You are right. You are not a baby. And now you’re going to have to be more of an adult, and it’s a good thing, too—kids don’t grow up quickly enough these days,” and I didn’t want to hear any more of her crap, and I was just so effin’ starved, so I said, “’Bye,” and I brushed past her, and she sort of huffed, “Good afternoon to you, too,” and then I went inside and made myself three grilled cheeses and watched Three’s Company and WKRP , and then I felt like puking my guts out because I ate way too fast.
    Later when Ma came home, we were having spaghetti for dinner, and for some reason I was in a terrible mood, like I had an itch inside my head that was impossible to scratch, and maybe Ma could tell I was in a terrible mood, or maybe she felt bad about our baby-book conversation in the morning, because she said, “How’d school go today?” and I said, “Fine,” and she said, “Doesn’t sound like it,” and I didn’t say anything for a bit, and she said, “Steven?” and I put down my fork and said, “I didn’t make the hockey team,” and she sort of smiled and said, “Oh, that’s too bad, hon. Maybe next year. You’re still on the young side for a high school team—”
    “I knew you wouldn’t understand,” I snapped, “so why did you ask in the first place?”
    And she just stared at me and her face and neck went red in blotches and she started scratching her arm again, and she looked down at her plate and rubbed her temples like she was trying to make the plate levitate or something, but I could tell that she was just really upset, but so was I, and so I didn’t say anything else and I didn’t even finish my meal, I just watched it get cold and hard. And finally Ma threw her napkin on the table and went to the bathroom, and I went and dumped my food in the garbage, and then I noticed that the stupid baby book was still sitting on the table, and I sort of wished it would just go away.
    Later on, after listening to the first period of the Leaf game against the New Jersey Devils with the radio right up to my ear, I crept out to the living room to watch the second period. The Leafs were down, 2–1, and Palmateer was being pepperedwith shots, and the Leafs were heading for their twenty-fourth straight loss on the road, and it was totally depressing just sitting there,