Tiger Eyes Read Online Free

different than fainting,” Dr. Foster explains. “This is caused by the way you’re breathing.”
    “I breathe that way because I feel like I can’t breathe. I feel like I can’t get any air at all.”
    “Yes, well …” Dr. Foster says, “we can all make ourselves hyperventilate. Divers do it … sprinters, before a race. You get a rush of oxygen to the brain. It can make you feel lightheaded.”
    “Why am I doing that?”
    “Anxiety. You’ve been through a lot.” He looks over at my mother, who is fastening and unfastening the clasp on her purse. Each time she does, it makes a clicking sound. Other than that the room is very quiet. “A new school … a tragedy in the family,” Dr. Foster continues. “It’s a lot to contend with at once.”
    I think it is interesting that he puts the new school before the tragedy.
    “Of course, facing up to it is the best way of dealing with it.” He rubs his eye. “Tell you what,” he says, “let’s give it another week. If you feel that you’re beginning to hyperventilate, talk to yourself. Tell yourself that you’re feeling anxious. That you have a right to feel anxious. Tell yourself to relax. Try to breathe slowly, regularly.” He scribbles something on his prescription pad, rips it off, and hands it to me. “And Iwant you to take this high-potency vitamin, with minerals.” He stands up. “A change of scene might do her good,” he says to Mom. “It might do all of you some good … if it’s possible.”
    “Thank you, Dr. Foster,” Mom says. She always thanks him when we are leaving, as if he’s doing us a favor by being our doctor.
    “Anytime, Gwen,” he says. “And I mean that.”
    “Yes, I know,” Mom says.
    He pats me on the shoulder. “You’ll be all right, Davey. It takes time … that’s all.”
    T hat night Mom phones Bitsy and Walter in New Mexico. “I’d like to take you up on your offer,” she says. “Davey’s been having some …” She pauses, trying to find the right word. “Some trouble,” she says. “And the doctor has recommended a change of scenery.”
    When Mom gets off the phone she tells us that Bitsy and Walter are very glad that we’re coming to visit.
    “Do they have an ocean?” Jason asks.
    “No, but they have mountains.”
    “How high?”
    “Very high,” Mom tells him.
    “Can you fall off?”
    “No.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yes.”
    Walter and Bitsy make all the arrangementsfor our flight from Philadelphia to Albuquerque. They even arrange to have Minka travel in the cabin with me, instead of underneath, in the baggage compartment.
    I worry about paying for the tickets because I know we don’t have any extra money. Then Mom tells me that they have been pre-paid, by Walter and Bitsy. “Of course I’m going to pay them back,” Mom says. “As soon as I get things organized.”
    We are going to leave in three days. I don’t go back to school. It doesn’t make any sense, when we’ll be gone for more than two weeks. And Mom doesn’t give me an argument about it so I guess that she agrees with me. I don’t hyperventilate once in those three days. Instead, I think about the trip. About getting away. I try to picture New Mexico. I try to keep my mind from wandering back to that night.
    Every morning Mom reminds me to take my vitamin. It is huge and hard to swallow. It also turns my pee green.
    When we are on the plane, somewhere between Chicago and Albuquerque, I flush the rest of the vitamins down the toilet.

SEVEN
    We climb into Walter’s Blazer. Mom sits in front with Bitsy and Walter. Jason and I sit in the back. He is wearing his Dracula cape. He never takes it off. I think he even sleeps in it. I hold Minka on my lap. Behind our seat is an open area, where Walter has piled our luggage. When I turn around to make sure that neither my bag nor my knapsack has been left behind, I notice the rifle, or something that looks like a rifle. It is long and sleek. My heart begins to pound.