Even If the Sky Falls Read Online Free Page A

me too”—and hugged our parents. He excused himself and passed out on his bed. That was fine, of course, he was tired; he’d just come back from a war and needed rest. We ate dinner and had dessert without him. We left him a serving in the microwave in case he woke up in the middle of the night.
    We did this for one week straight. I’d wake up in the morning and Adam would be asleep in his room, and he’d still be there by the time I got back from school. We didn’t pressure him—he needed time, my parents said. We didn’t know what he’d been through, and it was best not to pressure him into doing anything he didn’t want to. Lots of people weren’t lucky enough to get their loved ones back.
    But I was impatient. I stayed up late and watched his door until my eyes burned, only to fall asleep and waketucked into my own bed. I knew it was Adam who carried me to my room; my father’s had a bad back for most of his life—he can only manage a good-sized book and that’s it. I kept on watching, hoping I would catch him eventually.
    I did. One night I woke up snuggled into my bed when I heard the scuffle of plates and ran down to the kitchen to join him. He slammed the microwave shut, pressing the buttons as hard as he could.
    â€œGee—trying to wake up the whole house?” I said, hoping he’d heard the lightheartedness in my voice. Adam and I were finally awake at the same time; we could finally talk or not talk and just sit in the same room together, which was totally fine, as long as he let me stay. I said a silent prayer that he would.
    â€œSorry, kid.”
    â€œS’okay.” I sat down by the kitchen table and watched him scrambling for utensils, then searching for a glass, and finally pulling out Dad’s secret stash of whiskey, which wasn’t really a secret. He kept it at the back of one of the cabinets in plain view and took it out to mark special occasions. I’d only seen him crack it when Adam graduated college, and I’m sure he would’ve opened it again at Adam’s arrival if he’d been awake at all this last week.
    â€œThat’s for special occasions,” I said because I’m such a Goody Two-shoes and I was worried. But now, in hindsight, I think I could see it, feel it in the pauses and stilted conversation, in the cautiousness I felt when approachinghim, like he would break and shatter into something sharp.
    If I’d only known how little my brother was holding it together, how large the cracks were.
    Adam poured enough to fill half the glass, then looked up at me. “I’ll tell you a little secret I learned while I was deployed, kiddo. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”
    He downed the whiskey in two swigs, and for the first time since he’d gotten home, Adam smiled.
    So I smiled back.

The Midsummer Boys
    T HE SOUNDS OF M ID- S UMMER HAVE DISAPPEARED IF ONLY FOR a moment, paused, waiting for my mind to catch up to my heart.
    It’s just me and the whiskey breath of this stranger, Adam’s twin, leaning toward me.
    â€œSorry.” I recover and try to compose myself, but I lose my rhythm and stumble to the ground. The Adam look-alike tries to reach for me, but I wave him away along with the memory of Adam. He shrugs and continues on, leaving me on the ground as the party goes on around me. I am a rock in the flow of a river. It parts but doesn’t stop.
    â€œYou okay, honey?”
    I turn my head and look up into a lovely set of browneyes and a warm smile. A woman of about eighty extends her hand to me, lifting me up. There’s no trace of the Adam look-alike, and I shake off the thought that it was in any way a sign that I should be back with the group. I smile up at my helper.
    â€œYes, thank you. Just lost my place.”
    â€œWell, it’s right here.” She motions me to follow her back into the mass, and I do. “You don’t want to