Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I don’t answer him.
He doesn’t press it. He simply picks up my duffel bag that contains everything I own in the world, which isn’t much. Just some secondhand clothes and a few pairs of shoes.
We walk silently together out of the home. None of my friends are here to say goodbye. They’re all in school. We go to the local elementary and middle school.
I’m in seventh grade. My school won’t change. Just my residence.
I’ll be back in school tomorrow, and I’ll see my friends.
But everything will be different.
I walk with David to the van. He takes my duffel and shoves it in the back, and then he opens the door for me. I climb into the passenger seat and buckle my seatbelt.
“You remember to call me if you need anything,” he says.
“Sure,” I say.
Will I even be able to use the phone? None of us have cell phones, of course. This is a group home. It’s not like the state has funds to give us all a cell phone. A few phones are available for use, and of course we have to ask to use them. Never once in my time here have I asked. Five years, and I’ve never made a phone call. Who would I call? My parents don’t want me. I don’t have any other family.
The boys’ home for the older kids is only a few blocks away. In fact, it’s closer to school. It will be an easier walk.
David pulls into a parking spot, gets out of the van, and grabs my duffel.
I follow him into the large brick building.
And already…I know my life is about to get a whole lot more complicated.
Present day…
I walk up the rickety steps, taking care to avoid the second step, which is broken. There’s no doorbell, so I knock.
A dog barks through the door.
“Shut up, Teddy!” a woman’s voice yells. “Who is it?”
“I’m looking for Frank and Christina Delaney,” I say.
“Frank’s dead,” the woman says.
My father’s dead?
“Could you open the door, please?”
“It’s late.”
“It’s eight o’clock,” I say.
Finally, the door opens. The dog, Teddy, looks like some kind of border collie mix. And he’s really skinny. And filthy. But he’s cute in a shabby kind of way. I instinctively lean down and give him a scratch behind his matted ears.
“What do you want?” the woman asks.
She’s plump with gray hair that looks like it used to be blond. She’s wearing velour sweats, and her feet are in fuzzy beige slippers.
“I must have the wrong unit,” I say.
But then I look in her eyes.
They’re blue—the same color I remember. Not quite as light and sparkling as Griffin’s eyes, but they used to be beautiful.
Back when she was my mother.
“Christina?” I ask.
She scowls. “What the hell do you want?”
“Did you used to go by the name of Stefania Locke?”
Her mouth opens momentarily, but then she twists it into another scowl. “I’m going to shut the door in your face now, asshole. My dog here will chew you to shreds.”
Right. The dog that is currently licking my hand. Teddy looks about as lethal as a Nerf ball gun.
“Do you recognize me?” I ask.
She cocks her head, squints her eyes. “Afraid I don’t.”
I take a step forward, laying a hand over my chest. “I’m your son. I’m Dragon.”
Her eyes widen, but only slightly. “I don’t have any children.”
“Maybe it makes it easier for you to get through your life thinking like that. And I don’t know what happened to you or to Dad since I last saw you. But I am Dragon. I am your son. And you also had a daughter, Griffin.”
She stares at me then. At first it’s more like a glare, but then, after a moment, her eyes actually soften.
“Griffin?”
“Your daughter. She was taken a couple of months after you abandoned me because you thought I had done something horrific to her. I told you then that I didn’t do it, and it’s still the truth. You abandoned me anyway. Even after someone took her, and then you knew it couldn’t have been me in the first place. You never came to get me, Mother. So you’re right. Now you have no children.” I turn to walk away.
“Wait!”
I turn back. I can see the dog’s ribs. “I’m taking the dog with me. When’s the last time you fed him?”
“I haven’t had much food to feed myself,” she says.
“How do you pay rent here, then?”
“I’m on disability,” she says.
“You don’t look like you’re starving,” I say. “You don’t deserve to have this animal. Come on, Teddy.”
The dog follows me eagerly to the car. I knock on the window.
Diana unlocks the car.
“We’re taking this dog with us,” I say.
“Dragon…”
“I’m not leaving him here. The poor thing is starving. We need to stop at a store and get some dog food.”
“Of course we’re not leaving him.” She looks Teddy up and down, her eyes glistening. “I grew up around animals, Dragon. I love them. I’m not going to let this poor dog starve. I’m just not sure what to do with him is all. We’re staying in a hotel.”