Read Online the Big Time (2010) by Tim Green - Free Book Online Page B

whim.”
    His mom looked at him for a long moment before she put her hands on her hips and said, “But it wasn’t his idea, the lawsuit thing, was it?”
    Troy’s mind went into hyperdrive. “He’s a lawyer, Mom. You heard him. He knows all about that stuff.”
    A grim smile lit his mom’s lips. “You didn’t answer my question and I’m glad you didn’t, because I think it means you respect me enough not to lie. Now, I know, and you know, that Drew didn’t think up that lawsuit business. You just kind of mentioned it to him, didn’t you?”
    â€œHe came to the game because of me,” Troy said, panic filling him.
    â€œBut that’s not the same thing,” she said. “That’s not what we agreed to.”
    Troy’s sweaty hand dampened the card. The pressure in his head felt like a boiling pot, and his hurt finger throbbed. He tried to contain his rage, but it burst, and he yelled, “That’s my father, and I want to see him! I will see him!”
    His mom’s voice went eerily calm. “No, you won’t see him unless I say you’ll see him. I’m keeping thatnumber. Now, I’ll live up to my original agreement. If he really sues me, then we’ll work something out, but no more coaching from you.”
    â€œHe said he was going to!” Troy said, banging his good hand on the coffee table so that a container of chewed-over rib bones spilled to the floor, making a mess.
    â€œHe’s said a lot of things in his day,” she said bitterly. “You don’t have any idea, Troy.”
    His mom marched into the kitchen, and he heard her rattling something. Troy got up and followed to see her removing the phone from the wall. She marched back out into the living room and pointed at the mess.
    â€œClean that up and then get to bed,” she said. “You’ve got school in the morning. You can take another pill for your finger if you need it.”
    â€œWhat are you doing with the phone?” he asked.
    â€œIt’ll be with me, along with my cell phone,” she said, starting toward her bedroom before stopping in the hallway and spinning around. “It’s not that I don’t love you, Troy, but I can’t say one hundred percent that I trust you. I know how you get, and I can see that look in your eye. I don’t want you searching the internet all night, finding his number, and calling him. I’ll keep the phone with me to make it easier for you to do what I’m telling you to do. Now, good night.”
    â€œBut he’s leaving tomorrow night,” Troy said, his voice barely a whisper.
    His mom disappeared without another word, gently closing her door with a final click.
    Troy’s muscles tightened until he shook. He picked up a pillow and whacked it against the arm of the couch until dust glimmered in yellow light from the lamp next to his mom’s La-Z-Boy. He sneezed and huffed and threw down the pillow before slumping to the floor and holding his head in his hands, crying and growling to himself with rage.
    Finally, he took a deep, ragged breath, cleaned up, and went to bed.
    He hadn’t lain there for more than ten minutes before he sprang from his bed, dressed, and slipped out the window into the night.
    If he couldn’t call his father, Troy had a different and better idea of how he could see him, and he wouldn’t have to wait.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
    THE TREES ABOVE SHIFTED restlessly in a steady wind that smelled like coming rain, and stars blinked between tattered holes in the clouds. Behind the toolshed lay his gramps’s fourteen-foot aluminum ladder, and Troy knew he could lift it on his own. He found the middle two rungs and picked up the ladder, bumping his finger and cursing to himself. Struggling, he poked his head through so the ladder rested on his shoulders like a bizarre collar that balanced nicely. He knew the way through the dark