House of Secrets Read Online Free

often thought. The routines they found comic were not about others, but about mundane foibles of Joel Good’s own life. A story about his car breaking down could put them in stitches. He hobbled in one day. “So there I was stuck on the freeway.”
     
    “So what did you do?” somebody asked. “I kicked it. That’s how I broke my toe.” It wasn’t the punch line. It was the delivery.
    Straight-faced, and usually in a monotone.
     
    Just like Forrest Gump. Traci learned they had much in common. Joel Good would turn 19 in January. He’d been held back a year in grade school and placed in the slower classes most of his school years.
     
    “God,” Traci said. “You too?” Traci had trouble with numbers. “A form of dyslexia,” she explained. “Like a phone number. I’ll get one of the two digits all mixed up.” Math was difficult for Traci. For Joel, school was a struggle across the board. In his old high school he studied in a special curriculum. In Jackson, they appeared to have tossed him in with the mix, expecting him to fend for himself. His grades fell from B’s and C’s to D’s and F’s after he transferred. His aunt hired a personal tutor, who worked with him twice a week. Traci depended on Terry, who did her homework and coached her on tests. She passed her twin’s tips on to Joel. “Make up little skits in your head,”
     
    Traci told him. “It’s a good way to remember.” Joel eventually raised his grades to C’s. Other students rarely insulted his lack of intelligence. Joel Good wouldn’t argue, and he certainly couldn’t be goaded into a fight. People gave up quickly on trying to push his buttons, especially when their insults were met with that Forrest Gump stare. Even Traci’s sister Terry, the consummate cynic, noticed it.
    “He believes in people,” she said. “He always thinks good of people, no matter what they do.” Like when Traci took his desk. That became their morning routine, their little ritual through the fall and winter.
     
    Traci in his seat, talking to Terry. Saying a nasty line, then giving it back to him when he showed up. Then Traci landed a baby-sitting job in Joel Good’s neighborhood. He began dropping by to see her after school, pedalling over on his bike. They talked about homework and the Cleveland Browns and life after high school. One day she asked, “What are you going to do after graduation?”
     
    “I’d like to have a family,” he said. “I’d like to have a wife and kids.”
     
    “That’s a good goal,” she said. Terry pulled her aside at school one day. “Traci,” she said. “I think Joel wants to ask you out.” He asked her a few days later, in front of his aunt’s house, standing in the driveway, looking at his feet. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But she’d been going with a boy named Eric for six months.
    Eric had already asked her to the prom, she said. “You’re still my friend, Joel,” she said. “Is there anybody else you want to ask?
    Maybe I can help.” He answered the next day. “I sort of like that girl you guys sometimes hang around with.”
     
    “What girl?” Traci asked.. “Stella,” Joel said. “She seems nice.”
     
    The day she first heard the girl’s name, Teresa Boron panicked. Joel Good had sprung the question on her at 10,30 that morning, a Saturday, when mall parking was a major challenge in and of itself. “What do you wear to a prom?” he asked. She always called him Joey. “Joey, you’re going?” Teresa asked back. Her eyes filled with disbelief. He nodded.
     
    Teresa asked, “You’re going with Traci?” Weeks ago, she’d suggested her nephew ask the neighborhood girl who often stopped by their house after school. He’d finally gotten up the nerve, only to be rejected.
    Teresa thought, Traci must have changed her mind. Now Joey had waited until the day of the dance to break the news. “Traci has a boyfriend,”
    Joey said. “I’m going with a girl.”
     
    “What