Page 46 of String Boys

Xavier nodded, looking wrecked and hurt. “Tell Linda,” he said. “Tell Linda—I’ll call her when we know.”

“Why not tonight?” Seth asked, his voice cracking. “Dad, why can’t I go? Why not tonight?”

His father grunted. “Because the police want to talk to you first.”

Seth didn’t remember much about that. Far away, there was an ocean. He’d never been to the ocean, but he liked to dream about it. There was a violin playing such music, it could only mean salt air and the crashing of waves and heartbreak and struggle and triumph and joy.

Seth went there in his mind, listened to that music, and let his mouth move on its own.

HE WOKEup early the next morning, disoriented, only to realize that he’d fallen asleep next to his dad, on top of the covers of his dad’s bed. His dad had managed to get him out of his wretched clothes and into a clean pair of sleep pants, and after that….

Seth remembered holding on to his father, as if holding on to the mast of a ship in a storm, and sobbing until he couldn’t breathe.

Sometime in the middle of that, his dad’s phone buzzed. “It’s Linda. Xavier says Kelly’s going to be okay, and we can visit in the morning.”

It was probably the only thing that let him sleep at all.

He’d managed to get up and pee and brush his teeth when Linda banged on the door.

“I’m sorry,” she said, as frazzled as he’d ever seen her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Agnes is sick—summer cold. She was whining for soda last night, and that’s what Kelly was going to the store for and….” She took a deep breath. “I can’t take her to the hospital like this. I can’t. She’ll pick up every bug known to man, and then she’ll be in the hospital, and Kelly will be, and—”

Seth’s dad came out of the bedroom wearing his jeans over his boxer shorts, his powerful chest bare. “Linda?” he mumbled, scrubbing at his dark blond hair. “What do you need from us?”

She almost started to cry. “I’ll take Seth, Craig, but could you stay with Agnes? She’s upstairs, asleep, and her fever just broke, and….” She wiped the back of her hand under her eyes, and Seth realized it was the first time he’d ever seen her without makeup. “I just want to see my son, but if you can’t help, I have to stay here!”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be up in ten. Seth’ll be waiting by the car. Don’t worry about it. We can help.”

She swallowed hard and wiped her eyes again. “You two…. Seth, did you really scare off the people attacking Kelly? Javi said you saved his life and—”

“I told them the cops were coming,” Seth said, staring at her. “I was lucky. They could have turned on me.”

“Oh God.” Seth’s dad had turned the color of old mashed potatoes. “Seth? Oh my God!”

“They were hurting him,” Seth said, not seeing the problem.

“Of course,” his dad whispered. “Of course you’d see it that way.” He seemed to gather himself. “Linda, I’ll be up in ten. Uhm, maybe you and I, after Kelly’s feeling better, we can have a conversation, you know?”

The smile that twisted Linda Cruz’s mouth was both comforting because it was familiar, and frightening, because it was out of place. “I think it’s long overdue,” she said, giving Seth the kind of glance she saved for Kelly when he’d shirked his chores. Again, familiar, but not frightening.

But Seth didn’t care either way.

“Can we stop at a store?” he asked plaintively. “Like Target? I want to get him something. While he’s in the hospital. I’ve got money saved. Is that okay?”

Linda hugged him.

No words, and no warning either. Just a solid, hard Mom hug when he seemed to need it most.

“Yeah,” she said, voice broken again. “Of course.”

And then she was gone, leaving Seth and his dad to get ready.

THE DRIVEto the hospital was made awkward only by Matty, who got mad because Seth was in the front, and because they had to stop, and apparently because Seth and Kelly had been kissing in the woods and Matty had been sitting on that information for a month and a half and something like that made a guy mean.

“Awesome,” Matty sneered. “Another stuffed animal. That blue one he’s got is falling apart. He’s fifteen years old, and you’re gonna keep him a baby, man—great. My brother can be street bait for the rest of his life!”

Seth ignored him, far away on an alien beach, until Linda spoke up.

“Seth is bringing him a gift, Matty. If he likes the gift, that’s okay with me. Lay off. What happened to you two? You used to be friends.”