final is scheduled for the morning of June 12. After walking into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before school, I come across Mom sittingblurry-eyed and sobbing at the table. Iâve reached the point where I donât say anythingâthere is no point asking why today is any worse than yesterday. I pour myself a glass of juice.
âDo you know what today is?â she asks.
I shrug. âItâs the twelfth.â
She is holding something, a folded piece of paper. I glance at the envelope on the table in front of her. Itâs an old letter from Chase. The postmark tells me it was written when he was at boy scout camp.
âItâs Chaseâs eighteenth birthday.â
âOh, right,â I say. I had forgotten.
âI always thought heâd be in university by now, or at least heading off. Heâd have his whole life ahead of him, a careerâyour dad and I always thought heâd be good at business. He was so bright and personable even as a little boy. Maybe heâd get married.â She starts to cry.
âMom,â I say, but I stop at that. There really is nothing more to be said.
She wipes her cheek with the palm of her hand. âThe prosecuting lawyer and the family are applying to have Chaseâs case moved to adult court.â
âWhat does that mean?â
âIt means that if theyâre successful, heâll be tried as if he were an adult, even though the incident happened when he was technically still a youth.â
She still refers to Chase cracking Richard Cross over the head with a bottle as âthe incident.â Even now that the man has died.
âIf heâs convicted,â she continues, âheâll go to prison with men who have committed the most horrible crimes.â
She is obviously waiting for some reassurance, or at least a reaction. But what can I say? Chase too has committed the most horrible of crimes. âThat would suck,â is all I can think of to say.
She looks over at me. âIt would suck? Thatâs all you can say, Gordie? Your brother is likely to go to prison where he could be beaten and abused, and thatâs all you have to say?â
âWhat do you want me to say? I canât change the law. If thatâs the way it works, how can I change anything?â
âYou could care!â
âI do care.â
âWell, you sure donât show it. You donât talk about it. You donât discuss how weâre going to find him or how weâre going to get him home. In fact, if it wasnât for youâif you hadnât taken Chase out that night, heâd still be here.â
âYeah,â I said, âand Richard Cross would still be dead!â
Mom glares at me before she starts to cry again. I hadnât meant to hurt her, but how can she possibly blame me? And why is it that Chase is the good guyand Iâm the rotten one? I heft my backpack over my shoulder and leave.
I totally screw up my exam. I canât concentrate; dates and battles all run together, and I canât write a sentence that makes any sense. For the first time in my life I worry about whether or not Iâm going to pass a course rather than just how well Iâve done.
Two days later we get the news that the prosecutor has been successful. If Chase hadnât taken off he might have had a chance, but the judge rules he will be tried in adult court. Mom and Dad are devastated; not only will his sentence likely be much stiffer and heâll have to serve it in prison, but he can now be named in news reports.
Dad sits with his head in his hands after reading the story the following morning. It is the first time Chaseâs name has appeared in print. Itâs a Saturday. Within an hour the phone rings several times: Grandma, Aunt Gail, friends and neighbors, people Dad works with; a few even come by the house. They are all so solemn, like weâve lost a member of the family, which I
Brenda Novak
Italo Calvino
C. C. Hunter
ylugin
Mario Puzo
Charlotte Boyett-Compo
Toby Neal
Amarinda Jones
Ashley Hunter
Riley Clifford