a politician was interviewed on the news or when an umpire made a bad call I’m not changing my mind Amy Everything’s already settled What was already settled What was he talking about Dad was always making decisions without telling Mom or me ahead of time but this sounded more serious than usual The kitchen grew quiet I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was ten o’clock The time my parents move down into the basement family room so Dad can watch those crime shows filled with blood and guts while Mom knits on the couch and drinks wine with lots of ice cubes The air conditioning kicked in as I turned off my lamp feeling totally confused What was Dad planning I picked up my laser pen which I kept hidden under a fuzzy green pillow I sleep with three pillows a regular one for my head a little striped cushion to hug while I sleep and then the fuzzy green pillow which I use to hide Lego accessories and my miniature Rubick’s Cube and interesting things I find but feel like I shouldn’t show anyone Especially not my father I shined the bright laser pen at my bookcase where I had assembled the village of Martinville 2
over a year ago The town was getting so big I was considering relocating it to the top of my bureau When I turned nine years old Dad had given me his prized childhood collection of brownish-greenish soldiers which he’d inherited from his father my grampy Dad assumed I would set up battle scenes and construct forts to blow up and conquer like he had done with his little brother Jason when they were kids The problem was my father had been a kid a really long time ago and no one did that stuff anymore Besides I didn’t have a brother or a sister to boss around like Dad did It was just my parents and me So for a long time I left the box to gather dust on a shelf in my closet Until one day Mom told me that it hurt Dad’s feelings that I never even tried to play with the old brownish-greenish soldiers She suggested I come up with some creative game or project to include them which would make Dad happy That’s when I decided to redesign them with markers and make them ordinary people so I could play town instead of war Except that didn’t seem to make my dad happy at all What did Martin do to Grampy’s soldiers I heard him holler one night down in the kitchen after 3
I had gone to bed There’d been silence after that which meant Mom had probably poured Dad a glass of beer and pushed him toward the basement stairs to watch his crime shows Good night Baby Tim Mayor Niceman and Miss Puffy I whispered in the direction of the bookcase Every evening I chose three different townspeople to wish good night I’m sure we’ll all get to the bottom of what ever’s going on So there’s no need to worry Happy dreams everyone The day was officially over after I lowered the laser pen beam from the ceiling past the town down to the floor as if I had made the real sun set over Martinville Everyone was safe at least until tomorrow 4
CHAPTER TWO The next morning I was surprised to find Dad eating scrambled eggs and toast in the kitchen He usually left for work before I even woke up especially in the summer when I slept later Why are you still here I asked He closed his laptop and took a sip of coffee You sound disappointed Aren’t you glad to see me Truthfully I wasn’t glad at all to see him first thing in the morning I was used to having just Mom around She knew exactly how I liked a banana sliced on my cereal Now that school was out she took the summer off from her part-time job at the fabric store so she could be home with 5
