Raven (Orphans 4)

"He'll grow out of it," I said, but she didn't smile

She shook her head. "Something's not right, but I don't know why. I took him to a doctor. He's healthy, hardly even g

ets a cold, but something . . ." Her voice trailed off. Then she turned to me with teary eyes and asked, "What makes a young boy behave like that?"

I didn't know then.

But I would soon learn why.

Only I wouldn't be able to find the words to tell her.

3 Fly Away Home

"Drug rehabilitation," Uncle Reuben muttered as he chewed his forkful of sirloin steak Whenever Mama and I had steak, it was usually warmed-up leftovers she had brought back from Charlie's. "That's a waste of government money," he continued, chewing as he talked. He seemed to grind his teeth over the bitter words as well as his meat.

"It's not a waste of money if it helps her," Aunt Clara said softly.

He stopped chewing and glared at her.

"Helps her? Nothing can help her. She's a lost cause. Best thing they could do would be to lock her up and drop the key into the sewer."

Jennifer laughed. I looked up from my plate and fixed my eyes on her.

"Stop staring at me," she complained. "It isn't polite to stare, is it, Daddy?"

Uncle Reuben glanced at me and then nodded. "No, it ain't, but how would she know?"

Jennifer laughed again and smiled at me. My meat tasted like chunks of cardboard and stuck in my throat. I stopped eating and sat back. "I'd like to be excused," I said,

"Like hell you will, until you finish that," Uncle Reuben said, nodding at my plate. "We don't waste food here."

Jennifer cut into her steak and chomped down with a wide smile on her chubby face, pretending to savor every morsel. "It's delicious," she said.

"It's not polite to talk with food in your mouth," I said quickly.

William looked up with a gleeful smile in his eyes. Jennifer stopped chewing and swung her eyes at Uncle Reuben. He continued to scoop up his potatoes, shoveling the food into his mouth as if he had to finish in record time.

"I have a homemade pecan pie, Reuben. Your favorite," Aunt Clara said.

He nodded as if he expected no less. They're all spoiled, I thought.

"I got an eighty on my English test today," Jennifer told him.

"No kidding? Eighty. That's good," Uncle Reuben said.

"I have a chance to make the honor roll if Mr. Finnerman gives me a decent grade in math this quarter," she bragged.

"Wow. Hear that, Clara? That's my little girl making her daddy proud."

"Yes. That's very good," Aunt Clara said. "William came home with a ninety in spelling," she added.

William looked at Uncle Reuben, but he just continued chewing with only the slightest nod. "I guess I gotta go get the paperwork done on her," he said finally. "Everything go all right with the school?"

"Yes," Aunt Clara said. "She's enrolled."

"What kind of grades you been getting?" he asked me.

"I pass everything," I said, looking away quickly. "I bet," he said. "Your mother ever ask you how you were doing in school?"