Hello Loved Ones Read Online Free Page A

and taking all his energy, he’d forgotten.
    “You could keep quiet for the good of the children,” Dad said.
    “Don’t speak to me about the good of the children. I’m here raising them.”
    Lenny spoke up, “So were you on a bender?”
    “Lenny, a bender means out drinking,” Nell hissed at him. She stood with a glass of lemonade in her hand and made no move to offer it to Dad, just stood there, giving Lenny her look that said how did I get stuck with a knucklehead brother like you?
    Lenny flushed. Of course it meant drinking. He’d been silly to think a bender was some important job. The things Mom said about Dad always came back to drinking.
    “Why don’t you work with Uncle Ollie?” Lenny asked. It was a question he’d asked before but he’d never gotten a satisfactory answer. He couldn’t see why his dad had to go so far to look for work. His friends’ dads all worked right here in Holland. Mr. Van Rhee was a tool and die man, Mr. Reidsma made office furniture, and nearly everyone else he knew was a farmer. If only his dad would stay near home, Lenny was sure he wouldn’t drink so much. It was only when he went away and then came back looking dandy that things went bad.
    “Do I look like I’m cut out for shit-kicking work like that?”
    Lenny didn’t know how to answer. It was true his dad didn’t look like a farmer, and Lenny was mostly glad that he wasn’t one. He disliked the smell, the sad sound the cows made, and the way his uncle was always tired from doing the chores. But in some ways he wished his dad was more like Uncle Ollie. Lenny liked the way Uncle Ollie talked. I’m going to tell you why these cows aren’t milking , he’d say, and then he’d go and say why. Then later he would ask, remember what I told you about the cows and why they’re not milking? Lenny found it comforting to have things laid out like that. There were no surprises.
    “Do I?” Dad demanded.
    “No, sir.”
    “Spreading manure and pulling on cows’ teats are for men with no gumption.” Dad stretched his arms above his head and then shook his shoulders out, as if to prove he was ready for a challenge.
    “Where’s Sally?” he asked.
    “She’s taking a nap,” Nell said. She held out his lemonade and at last he took it and pulled down a long swig.
    “Go wake her up.”
    “No,” Mom said. “Unless you’re planning to be gone again by dinnertime.”
    “I oughta go. It’d serve you right.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    “What’d you find in Louisville?” Lenny asked. He was concerned about Dad not having work. Even selling church envelopes was better than nothing. Lenny knew it was the man of the family who was supposed to have a job. If his dad wasn’t going to work, did that mean Lenny had to do it? He was only eight, but he supposed it was possible. A few boys in his class had paper routes. There was no reason he couldn’t get one too.
    Mom lifted a glass of lemonade to her lips. “ Who’d you find is a better question,” she muttered.
    Dad blew out hard, his lips tight. “You sure know how to make a man feel welcome. And you ,” he said to Lenny, “why do you have to ask so many questions? Look here. I brought you something.” He walked over to his car and pulled out a bat.
    “Happy birthday,” he said, holding it toward Lenny.
    “Wow! A Louisville Slugger!”
    “That’s right. World’s most famous bat.”
    “I hope you brought a little something for the girls,” Mom called.
    “I’ll bring them something next time. A man can’t go to Louisville, home of the Slugger, and not pick one up. Besides, it’s not their birthdays. Right, Nellie?”
    “My birthday was in June,” Nell mumbled. “You weren’t home.”
    Mom patted her arm and said, “Let’s go make some more lemonade.”
    Lenny watched Nell go inside with her head hung low. For about the thousandth time in his life he wished she were a brother instead of a sister. Then they could share the bat and he wouldn’t have to