Try dialing by hand. I do,
and from a distant city, through
the static, I discern a familiar voice.
You procrastinators don’t have
much time left. Santa’s almost here….
“That’s my brother,” I tell Kyle.
“Hunter. He works at a station
in Reno.” Nostalgia whacks me.
Really? How come you never
told me you have a br
other?
He turns up the volume, but
the meager signal has dissolved
completely. “I have three brothers,
actually. Oh, and a sister, I guess.
I hardly ever see my brothers, and
no one bothered to tell me I had a sister
until a couple of weeks ago.”
Wow. That’s tough. I love my sister.
Can’t imagine not … His voice
catches as he considers what
he’s about to say. Can’t imagine not
seeing her, let alone not knowing
she even existed. How’d you find out?
I shrug. “My dad got drunk—
that night he got the DUI, in fact—
and it kind of just slipped out.”
Kyle thinks that over. Finally says,
My dad was drunk when he told
me about my mom going into the river.