Read Long Past Stopping for Free Online Page B

hours—but I just felt like he wasn’t giving me a straight answer. I wanted to hear him say, “Yes, Oran, those are the good kids, the smart ones who are going to go on to college and be productive citizens,” but he wouldn’t say it.
    â€œListen,” he said, after giving it some thought. “On Monday, if you want to go to class, just go in and check it out. If you don’t like it, leave.”
    I checked it out. I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on in there. The blackboard was full of numbers, strange squiggles, and symbols I had never seen before, and they were talking about something called wormholes. I lasted all of ten minutes.
    Â 
    M OM MAY HAVE left us on a dirt lot in New Mexico, but she was far from an absentee parent. We spoke on the phone almost every day, and somehow she managed to be just as controlling as she had been when we lived with her. It’s true we got to watch TV and eat whatever we wanted to, but we could never sound too happy on the phone because she would know in an instant that something was up.
    Kyle was a little more susceptible to her mind tricks than I was, so I was always nervous that he might let something slip. In a display of my own controlling behavior, I would listen in on their conversations and cue Kyle by means of facial expressions if he was heading into dangerous territory, or start frantically jumping up and down and waving my hands if he had gone too far. Of course he knew not to bring up anything about television or candy, but my mom was a smart one and had all sorts of ways to get Kyle to slip up.
    I was always the first to talk on the phone.
    â€œSo, how is everything, Oran?”
    â€œOkay,” I would say without much enthusiasm.
    â€œDid you guys get your bikes in the mail?”
    â€œYeah. Thanks.” I always kept my voice monotone, but in fact the dirt bikes were a godsend.
    â€œSo are you having more fun then? Making any friends?” she asked.
    â€œUh-huh,” I grunted.
    â€œOkay, good. Is Kyle around?”
    â€œYeah, hold on a second. Hey, Kyle, she wants to talk to you.”
    â€œHi, Mom.”
    Shit, he sounded excited already. I tried frowning at him.
    â€œYeah, we’re great. Yesterday I bought a rocket, and we blasted it off today, and it went like a hundred feet in the air.”
    I was jumping around like a maniac trying to get him to shut up, but I knew it was too late.
    I couldn’t hear her, but I knew what the next question would be. “Wow, honey, that sounds fun—where did you buy it?” I was just shaking my head and holding my finger up to my lips, but Kyle still couldn’t see where she was taking this.
    â€œI got it at the toy store.”
    â€œWhere did you get the money?” And then he got it, and his excitement turned into a frown.
    â€œUh. I…Uh…She wants to talk to you again.”
    I didn’t know how to get out of this one. I didn’t have enough time to think something up.
    â€œSo, Oran. Where are you guys getting money from?”
    â€œUh…well…the neighbors gave us some money to pull out the weeds from their yard,” I stammered.
    â€œOh? Wow, those sound like cool neighbors. That’s really nice of them, but where are you really getting the money from?” she asked sarcastically.
    â€œCarol,” I said, folding. I didn’t even put up a real fight.
    â€œAnd how much money is Carol giving you guys?”
    â€œUm…”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter whether you tell me or not because after I’m done talking to you, I’m going to talk to Carol, and it would be better if you told me than if I have to ask her.”
    â€œFifteen bucks.”
    â€œSee, that wasn’t so hard, was it? So, that would be fifteen bucks a week?”
    â€œUh-huh,” I said. Kyle was giving me that “I’m sorry. Please don’t beat me up” look.
    â€œSo, you must have a lot of