The Lava in My Bones Read Online Free

changed drastically in October 1984 when Sam won the school science-fair prize for his rotating wheel labelled with the planets of the solar system; the next month he was awarded the Labrador Science Trophy, and his picture was in the Cartwright Gazette. His mother believed the attention was making him arrogant and stuck the trophy in the garbage. But at school Sam was a hero. Briefly. Esther cornered him on the volleyball court and said, “If you want to go to the Dairy-Freeze with me, I’ll buy my own ice cream.” Sam knew that if he rejected her, she wouldn’t let him watch her anymore. He answered, “Okay, let’s do something.”
    He took her to the hamburger joint and she studied him while he ate. He was always hungry in those days. Esther said, “I’m not ordering because I gotta watch my figure. Besides, grease drips,” and she pointed to her dress. “I don’t want to look like those piggy girls that act like boys.”
    After a month of dating, Sam and Esther had sex in his father’s car. Sam found it cumbersome; her body was as slippery as a fish’s, making her hard to grip, and he kept getting her hair in his mouth. She’d mechanically roll her head back and forth murmuring “Kiss me, boy, kiss me,” but each time he tried to kiss her, the timing was off and he’d end up pressing his lips againstthe side of her head. As he stared into the swath of hair whirling round one ear, he thought: I’m making love to a gorilla.
    Afterwards she excused herself and said, “I gotta pee,” stepped out of the car and squatted in the bushes; Sam reached into her bag and snatched the pencil case. As her urine splattered on leaves, he pulled down the zipper. Inside, he discovered some spindly pencils. The little man was gone. She’d long ago thrown him in the garbage.
    His mother believed he shouldn’t date until he was eighteen. Panicking, she phoned Esther’s mother. “Years ago your daughter brought out something bad in Sam. I don’t know what they do when they’re out, but he’s been doing things with her … in his mind. I find these new stains in his underwear from … his thinking. I worry what could happen. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you the stains.” Esther’s mother told Esther who laughed and said, “Good for him.”
    Sam began to feel Esther had little to offer. In conversation she said the same things over and over: “Dairy-Freeze’s snow-cones are sweeter than Mr. Softy’s” or “Dresses that come to the knee are way cooler than the mid-thigh ones.” Some days the clackity-clack of her voice was like a hockey card flapping in bike-wheel spokes; sex with her began to seem repetitious. It satiated a hunger, but nothing new ever happened. Esther said, “You’re different for me because you got brains. I’m starting to think footballers are gross. Now I’m dating the guy who won the science fair! My parents can’t believe it. You like to do experiments, Sam? Do one on me.”
    He mournfully studied her labyrinth of hair; beads of waternestled in its curves and glittered in the sunlight. Observing her put her hair up each day had not diminished the mystery. But whatever was there remained beyond him. Just before Christmas, he broke up with her.
    He confronted her in the cafeteria. “I don’t think we should continue dating. I’m applying to some good universities and need to spend my time studying.”
    Esther was momentarily stunned. Then she screamed so loudly that everyone at the nearby tables heard her. “I’m the prettiest girl and I deigned to go out with you! ” The labyrinth on her head trembled like a giant jelly salad. “I coulda gotten a guy a thousand fuckin’ times better! I’ll get back at you bunch of assholes.” He assumed this meant his family. Finally Esther told the whole