turns down the radio. I wish I could tell
you. But I’m not sure I ever knew Kristina.
The real Kristina, that is. I saw traces
of her once in a while. That girl had
a heart. The Kristina I met was still
pretty, but not nearly as beautiful
as the pictures I saw of her when she
was younger, before she started …
“Started using meth? With you?
Grandfather told me about that.
He said you were different before too.”
His jaw clenches. Dad doesn’t know
everything. Kristina didn’t start using
with me. She already had a history.
He tells me about Albuquerque.
How she met a guy there who first
turned her on. Tells me about
partying with her father. Hiding it
from her mother and stepfather.
How she probably would have
kept right on smoking it up then
except, But then she got pregnant
and mostly quit until Hunter was—
“Wait. Hunter? I have a brother?”
I’ve always believed I was an only
child. Not sure why, in retrospect.
I’m sorry. I forgot you didn’t know.
You have three brothers and a sister.
But you’re the only one who’s mine. I—
“Stop. I have to think.” I turn up