Read Online The People in the Mirror by Thea Thomas - Free Book Online
Authors: Thea Thomas
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mature to me, I thought for sure someone a bit older than you wouldn’t matter.”
“Two years, Dad. I mean, thanks for the vote of confidence, or whatever it is, but I hope to think that when I’m a freshman in college I’ll... I’ll be a lot more, you know, more... more like Stephanie. I hope.”
“But you behaved like an adult tonight, and I’m completely proud of you. Especially if you were uncomfortable. I didn’t see it, which proves my point. And you were there for your old Dad. Thanks and go to sleep.”
“You’re welcome and I’m gone.”
I followed my dreams into a land where I danced with a prawn on the rippling surface of the ocean, until Mitch cut in and danced with me inside a dusky mirror. I looked up and saw myself watching me dance with Mitch in an ancient hall, with piano music swelling to the walls and pouring out through the mirror into my closet.
* *
The next morning, when I dragged myself into the kitchen, Mom was all atwitter because the police had called and said they’d found a couple of small pieces of furniture at a pawn shop, and that once a couple things turned up, more usually followed.
“That’s great, Mom. This barren place was starting to get on my nerves.”
“You and me both, but the worst of it for me has been the horror of facing the Rionews. Dad talked with Mr. Rionews, and he said he took the disaster very well, but I just want to get their things back, if at all possible.”
“Me too. It’d be great to come home from school to a furnished apartment.”
The news about the furniture was fantastic, but I was still more preoccupied with wondering when I’d get to see Mitch again. Did I have to rely on accidental, coincidental meetings in the hall or in the corner grocery? I already knew I could go for days without seeing him, if that were the case. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine gathering the courage to walk down the hall and knock on his door.
But there he was, talking with Homer at the door when I came home from school in the afternoon. He fell into step beside me, and rode up in the elevator with me, just as if we’d planned it.
“How was school?”
“Okay,” I answered. I couldn’t resist asking one of my biggest questions. “Where do you go to school?”
“I don’t. I’ve done home study since my father died. I live with my mother and my Uncle – my dad’s brother. We moved in with him when my father died and he sort of rules us with an iron hand. He told my mother he didn’t want a cookie cutter kid for a nephew, which is how he feels about public school. He never went to school at all. He has the idea that it’s something awful.”
“Wow,” I said, for lack of anything more profound. I had no idea how to respond. “How do you feel about it?”
“Sometimes it’s okay because both my uncle and my mom teach me, and they both know quite a lot. But sometimes I’d like to be with people my own age. My family is Romanian and they have a long heritage of sticking with family, no matter what. I mean, whether they’re right or wrong. It goes back generations, so who am I to even consider breaking the chain? But sometimes chains get old and rusty and they don’t serve anymore.”
We were now in front of my apartment, talking in the hall again, and I hoped Mom wouldn’t pop her head out the door like she did yesterday.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I want to go to college, I want to break family tradition and become a lawyer.”
“What does your uncle want you to become?”
“Oh, ah, well, it’s kind of hard to explain. I’ll... we’ll get into that some other time.”
I sensed that same discomfort from Mitch that I picked up on yesterday when mom asked him if his apartment was hit by the thieves. “Do you want to come in and, I don’t know, talk some more?”
Right then Mom started playing the piano and the round tones of scales muffled
“Two years, Dad. I mean, thanks for the vote of confidence, or whatever it is, but I hope to think that when I’m a freshman in college I’ll... I’ll be a lot more, you know, more... more like Stephanie. I hope.”
“But you behaved like an adult tonight, and I’m completely proud of you. Especially if you were uncomfortable. I didn’t see it, which proves my point. And you were there for your old Dad. Thanks and go to sleep.”
“You’re welcome and I’m gone.”
I followed my dreams into a land where I danced with a prawn on the rippling surface of the ocean, until Mitch cut in and danced with me inside a dusky mirror. I looked up and saw myself watching me dance with Mitch in an ancient hall, with piano music swelling to the walls and pouring out through the mirror into my closet.
* *
The next morning, when I dragged myself into the kitchen, Mom was all atwitter because the police had called and said they’d found a couple of small pieces of furniture at a pawn shop, and that once a couple things turned up, more usually followed.
“That’s great, Mom. This barren place was starting to get on my nerves.”
“You and me both, but the worst of it for me has been the horror of facing the Rionews. Dad talked with Mr. Rionews, and he said he took the disaster very well, but I just want to get their things back, if at all possible.”
“Me too. It’d be great to come home from school to a furnished apartment.”
The news about the furniture was fantastic, but I was still more preoccupied with wondering when I’d get to see Mitch again. Did I have to rely on accidental, coincidental meetings in the hall or in the corner grocery? I already knew I could go for days without seeing him, if that were the case. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine gathering the courage to walk down the hall and knock on his door.
But there he was, talking with Homer at the door when I came home from school in the afternoon. He fell into step beside me, and rode up in the elevator with me, just as if we’d planned it.
“How was school?”
“Okay,” I answered. I couldn’t resist asking one of my biggest questions. “Where do you go to school?”
“I don’t. I’ve done home study since my father died. I live with my mother and my Uncle – my dad’s brother. We moved in with him when my father died and he sort of rules us with an iron hand. He told my mother he didn’t want a cookie cutter kid for a nephew, which is how he feels about public school. He never went to school at all. He has the idea that it’s something awful.”
“Wow,” I said, for lack of anything more profound. I had no idea how to respond. “How do you feel about it?”
“Sometimes it’s okay because both my uncle and my mom teach me, and they both know quite a lot. But sometimes I’d like to be with people my own age. My family is Romanian and they have a long heritage of sticking with family, no matter what. I mean, whether they’re right or wrong. It goes back generations, so who am I to even consider breaking the chain? But sometimes chains get old and rusty and they don’t serve anymore.”
We were now in front of my apartment, talking in the hall again, and I hoped Mom wouldn’t pop her head out the door like she did yesterday.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I want to go to college, I want to break family tradition and become a lawyer.”
“What does your uncle want you to become?”
“Oh, ah, well, it’s kind of hard to explain. I’ll... we’ll get into that some other time.”
I sensed that same discomfort from Mitch that I picked up on yesterday when mom asked him if his apartment was hit by the thieves. “Do you want to come in and, I don’t know, talk some more?”
Right then Mom started playing the piano and the round tones of scales muffled
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