Something Like Thunder by Jay Bell Page A

him a moment, then became more friendly. “The break wasn’t a total bust. The acceptance letters were exciting. Who did you hear back from?”
    “I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t been home yet.”
    “Really? You came to see me first?” Rebecca smiled. “Of course you only wanted to brag, but I’ll still take it as a compliment.”
    “Your turn. Tell me everything you learned about square dancing. No, forget that. Just show me your new moves.”
    She shook her head, then invited him to her bedroom. There they lay on her bed and went through her acceptance letters one by one. They had made sure to apply to the same schools, hoping to enter college together. She didn’t have a response from every school, but she did save the best letter for last.
    “Oh, and here’s one more,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “Some no-name school on the East Coast. What were they called? Ah, I remember! Yale.”
    Nathaniel’s jaw dropped. Then he snatched the letter from her. After absorbing its contents he handed it back with more reverence. “Makes your decision easy.”
    “Not necessarily,” Rebecca said with a casual shrug. “We’ll see.”
    “What’s there to see?” he asked incredulously.
    Her freckled cheeks grew a little red. “If they accepted you too.”
    “No way,” he said, shaking his head. He wasn’t going to let her feelings for him ruin an opportunity like this. “You’re going. There’s no way in hell you’re not.”
    “And what if I don’t, Dad ? What are you going to do? Ground me?”
    “You’re going,” he said, ignoring her sarcasm. “I won’t be the one to mess this up for you.”
    “Then you’d better get accepted too.”
    They talked over her news a little longer, Nathaniel’s anticipation about his own results increasing until he couldn’t wait anymore. After a kiss on the cheek, he headed home to see if he had any mail. The usual anxiety he felt when nearing his house was absent today, replaced by dreams of the future and a longing to see his mother. He found her in the living room, flipping through channels on the big screen TV. When she heard him, her head turned, surprise registering before joy. One hand pushed a button to silence the television as she stood. She only managed a few steps because Nathaniel got there first, hugging her and lifting her off her feet.
    His mother laughed, then winced as he squeezed, so he set her down gently.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I forget my own strength.”
    “Maybe take it easy on those weights,” Star said, placing a hand on one of his cheeks. “Look how much sun you got! And when’s the last time you shaved? You look like Paul Bunyan.”
    “Rugged, isn’t it?” Nathaniel rubbed the scruff. He hadn’t grown a real beard, but he still felt proud.
    “Sit down and tell me all about your trip,” his mother said. “Oh, are you hungry? There’s a cucumber salad in the fridge or—”
    “Yuck.”
    “—or I can nuke you a chicken pot pie.”
    “That sounds better.”
    Half an hour later, Nathaniel was sitting at the kitchen table, a scraped clean cardboard pie tray in front of him. He had managed to eat and tell his mother the highlights of the trip at the same time, which is probably why she kept making faces. For once she didn’t chastise his table manners, clearly happy to have him back.
    “What’s been going on here?” he asked.
    His mother sighed, looking weary. “Your brother lost his job.”
    Cold dread hit his stomach. “Already? What happened?”
    “Dwight got into an argument with a client. You know his temper. He actually—” His mother pressed her lips together and shook her head. “He forced the customer from the car he was trying to sell and told him to leave if he didn’t agree with the price.”
    She wasn’t doing the story justice. Nathaniel could visualize how it probably really happened. The customer was behind the wheel of a car—maybe on the showroom floor or out on the lot. In the