Read Rainbows End for Free Online

wasn’t surprising. A kid has very little to compare to. Robert was strict and demanding, on that little Bobby had been very clear. For even though Robert Senior had often and loudly blamed himself for being such an easygoing parent, sometimes that seemed to contradict what Bob saw at his friends’ homes. But it had never seemed mistreatment to Bob.
    Even when Mom left Dad, even that hadn’t turned Bob against the old man. Lena Gu had taken years of subtle abuse and she couldn’t take any more, but little Bobby had been oblivious of it all. It wasn’t till later, talking to Aunt Cara, that he realized how much worse Robert treated others than he had ever treated Bob.
    For Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gu, Jr., this should be a joyous time. His father, one of America’s most beloved poets, was returning from an extended campout in the valley of the shadow of death. Bob took a long look at Robert’s still, relaxed features. No, if this were cinema, it would be a Western and the title would be The Return of the SOB .

A Minefield Made in Heaven
    “My eyeballs are… fizzing!”
“This shouldn’t be painful. Do they actually hurt?”
“… No.” But the light was so bright that Robert saw fiery color even in the shadows. “It’s all still a blur, but I haven’t seen this well in…” he didn’t know how long; time itself had been a darkness “… in years.” A woman spoke from right behind his shoulder. “You’ve been on the retinal meds for about a week, Robert. Today we felt we had a working population of cells present, so we decided to turn them on.” Another woman’s voice: “And we can cure your blurred vision even more easily. Reed?”
    “Yes, Doctor.” This voice came from the man-shaped blur directly in front of him. The figure leaned near. “Let me put this over your eyes, Robert. There’ll be a little numbness.” Big gentle hands slipped glasses across Robert’s face. At least this was familiar; he was getting new lenses fitted. But then his face went numb and he couldn’t close his eyes.
    “Just relax and look to the front.” Relaxing was one thing, but there was no choice about looking to the front. And then… God , it was like watching a picture come up on a really slow computer, the blurs sharpening into finer and finer detail. Robert would have jerked back, but the numbness had spread to his neck and shoulders.
    “The cell map in the right retina looks good. Let’s do the left.” A few more seconds passed, and there was a second miracle.
    The man sitting in front of him eased the “glasses” off Robert’s head. There was a smile on his middle-aged face. He wore a white cotton shirt. The pocket was embroidered with blue stitching: “Physician’s Assistant Reed Weber.” I can see every thread of it ! He looked over the man’s shoulder. The walls of the clinic were slightly out of focus. Maybe he’d have to wear glasses out-of-doors. The thought set him laughing. And then he recognized the pictures on the walls. This was not a clinic. Those wall hangings were the calligraphy that Lena had bought for their house in Palo Alto. Where am I ?
    There was a fireplace; there were sliding glass doors that opened onto a lawn. Not a book in sight; this was no place he had ever lived. The numbness in his shoulders was almost gone. Robert looked around the room. The two female voices — they weren’t attached to anything visible. But Reed Weber wasn’t the only person in sight. A heavyset fellow stood on his left, arms akimbo, a broad smile on his face. Robert’s look caught his, and the smile faltered. The man gave him a nod and said, “Dad.”
“… Bob.” It wasn’t so much that memory suddenly returned as that he noticed a fact that had been there all along. Bobby had grown up.
     
“I’ll talk to you later, Dad. For now I’ll let you wrap things up with Dr. Aquino and her people.” He nodded at the thin air by Robert’s right shoulder — and left the room.
    The thin air