Page 134 of Mr. Broody

“I saved you,” he says, and the pride on his little face fills my heart.

“You sure did. We gotta scale the wall before that…” I’m at a loss for animals and where we are.

“Elephant,” he says.

Sure, we just got to the Sahara. Cool.

“It’s an entire herd, you better hurry.” I push him.

He hangs from the back of the couch, pretending he can’t climb up. “I need your help, I’m… not… strong… enough.”

This kid needs to go into acting.

I hop to the pillow and push him over the “wall.” He rolls over on the couch.

“Phew.” I run my hand over my forehead. “That was close.”

He pops up on his feet. “The momma is coming. She’s mad.”

I look over my shoulder and jump over the edge of the couch.

“Wow,” Bodhi says. “I want to do that.”

“I’m kind of surprised I managed it.” I’m not the athletic type.

He laughs but sobers quick. “The shark!”

And we move from the Sahara Desert to the ocean.

“The boat is rocking.” I use my feet to move my body back and forth as though waves are moving a ship. He does the same. “I don’t know if we’ll make it. Bodhi, a killer whale!” I place my hand on the edge of the couch. “It’s going to hit the boat, hold on.”

He clings to the edge, but I pretend to be thrown from the “boat,” falling off the back of the couch and onto my back, the pillows not really helping as much as I thought they would.

“Ouch.” I put my hand on my now-sore back. Shit, that hurt, but I don’t want Bodhi to think anything is wrong.

“I’ll save you!”

I look up to see Bodhi standing on the top of the back of the couch.

“No, Bodhi,” I say, shaking my head, but he crouches and propels himself off the edge.

I swivel on the floor, and it all happens in slow motion. Him flying through the air, me scrambling to catch him but not getting there fast enough. He crashes down on the floor.

Oh shit.

I slide over to him. “Bodhi, are you okay?”

He’s crying, and I really hope this is a bruise or a little cut, but he rolls over holding his arm. His clearly broken arm.

Oh my god, I broke Henry’s son.

Fifty-Eight

Jade

We’re in the ambulance, and the paramedic hands me a clipboard. “Can you fill these out on our way to the hospital?”

I stare at all the boxes and freeze. “Um…”

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