Page 3 of The Spider & the Storm

And I couldn’t stop thinking about it formonths, and that was a really, really long time. I just kept remembering what that guy on the TV had said—that we were in for a bad hurricane season—and I kept on feeling like I needed to do something to make Luke and Mom and Dad listen because what if that bad feeling was right?

So, I talked about it all the time until I cried and yelled and slammed my bedroom door. Finally, that guy on the weather channel talked aboutthehurricane. He said it was coming and that it would be bad, and Mom and Dad looked at each other, their eyes big and afraid. Then, they packed our bags and took us to Pennsylvania to stay with our aunt.

The hurricane had taken our house, but the hurricane hadn’t taken us.Wewere okay. I had done good, telling my family about my bad feeling, but the old man doctor looked like I had been wrong. He looked at me the way my teachers did. The way Ritchie and the other kids at school did.

Like I wascrazy.

“I’m only trying to help, Mrs. Corbin,” he said, sounding tired. “I only want what’s best for your son.”

Mom didn’t say anything right away, and I looked up from my sneakers to see her face. Oh yeah, she was mad all right. I could tell by the way her cheeks were splotched red and her lips were all pruney, kinda like she had eaten too many sour candies. Her eyes went from the doctor to the lady with the clipboard, and her mouth opened like she was about to say something. But before she said a word, she looked at me, and the mad look went away.

Then, she smiled, even though she also seemed kinda sad. About what, I wasn’t sure, but I did know those angry wasps in my tummy settled down a little bit.

“You know what?” she said, keeping her dark brown eyes on mine for a moment before looking back at the doctor and continuing, “I don’t think you know what’s best for my son. I don’t think any of you—not the teachers, not this office, notanyof you—know what’s best for my son at all. Now”—she hurried to stand, snatched her purse from the chair beside her, and reached out to take my hand—“we are leaving, and you can take your antipsychotics and shove them up your ass.”

***

“She didnotsay ass,” Luke groaned, rolling his eyes away from the TV long enough to glare at me.

“Oh, yes, she did,” I argued before grinning again.

Mom hardly ever cursed. She always yelled at Dad whenever he cursed around Luke and me and told him he was being a bad influence. So, hearing her curse at that doctor was pretty much the coolest thing I thought she’d ever done in her life.

“So, what’s the plan now, Sue? I thought you were going to take him down to that doctor the school recommended, get him looked at, and do what you had to do to get this sorted out.”

Sorted out. Dad said things like that about the leak in the bathroom and that one time the lights wouldn’t turn on.Sorted outmeant something was aproblem.Iwas a problem.

The hardened glare in Luke’s eyes disappeared as he clamped his lips shut at the sound of Dad’s voice in the kitchen. Now, he just looked sad.

Sad for me.

“They wanted to put him on antipsychotics,” Mom said.

“Yeah, and?”

Mom made a noise like she couldn’t believe Dad would say something like that. “Are you serious? You think he’spsychotic?”

“Sue, I’m not saying—”

“Whatexactlywould you have me do, Paul? Huh? You want me to take him back to that place and let them treat him like he’s some … some lab rat and pump him full of pills? You want them to treat him like a freak? Jesus Christ. He’s ourson, Paul. You didn’t hear the things they were saying. You didn’t see the way they looked at him. You didn’t—” Her voice broke, and I knew she was crying.

I didn’t like it when Mom cried.

I didn’t like thatIhad made her cry.

“Sweetheart,” Dad said quietly, and a chair was pulled out from the table.

“He’s not crazy, Paul.” She sniffled.

“I never said he was. I just …” He groaned loudly. “I want him to have a good life. I want him to be happy. I don’t want him to bealone. And that school … you know they’re going to ruin him if he doesn’t—ifwedon’t—”

“So … he won’t go back.”

Luke’s eyes got really big then.What?he asked silently, his lips moving.

But I didn’t know what to say. My heart was beating so hard, so fast.

“I’ll keep him home,” Mom said. “I’ll teach him myself.”

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