Read The Center of Everything for Free Online Page B

too.
    Everyone else starts to eat, but my mother is still just looking at her plate, her hands pressed against the piano bench. She taps her foot against one of the legs of the table, hard enough so the ice cubes in my glass clink together.
    My grandfather’s temples move as he chews, his eyes wide. He looks at my mother, then glances at Eileen. “Well I saw that German car out there,” he says. “We can look into fixing it, but it might be better to try to just get you-all a new one altogether. Get something a little more reliable.”
    My mother looks up. “Who’s the horse?”
    He stops chewing for just a moment, staring at her. But he says nothing, and after a while he starts chewing again, looking down at his plate as if she didn’t say anything at all. “Maybe a good Ford. Chrysler.”
    My mother doesn’t look at him. She pretends he isn’t there. He looks at me and smiles. “What grade are you in now, sweetheart?”
    I am not sure if I should answer, but he is looking at me, waiting. “Fourth,” I say.
    “Fourth! Just one grade above Beth. How nice.”
    “Who’s the horse?” my mother asks.
    He swallows and points his fork at my mother, but doesn’t look at her. “Tina, I heard you-all needed money, and I’m willing to help you out. Just drop the horse business. Just drop it.”
    She lowers her head. Daniel and Stephanie catch each other’s eye, and something about the way they do this makes me think of the deer in the corn field across the highway.
    “I got Italian dressing,” Eileen says. “Tina, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember if you liked Italian or Ranch.”
    My mother doesn’t say anything to this, and so it is quiet for a while except for the sound of people chewing. Still she isn’t eating, just sitting there. I put a cucumber slice in my mouth, and I am chewing it as carefully as I can when I hear a high-pitched humming sound, almost like the seat belt alarm in the Volkswagen. When I look at my mother, the humming gets louder, and I know it’s her.
    People are still chewing, acting like they don’t hear. But she gets louder and louder, even with her mouth closed. Finally, the chewing stops.
    “Tina?” Eileen says. “You okay, honey?”
    My mother closes her eyes, and tilts her chin all the way back. She opens her mouth wide, and the humming sound turns into a long, slow whinny.
    I am amazed by how good she is at this, how much she sounds like a horse.
    My grandfather puts down his fork, his face like a rock. She neighs again, and Rita comes out from underneath the table, her ears pointed, tilting her head at the sound.
    “Daniel, will you pass the salad dressing?” Eileen asks. “That’s right. Fourth. Just one year ahead of Beth, and one year behind Stephanie. Isn’t that something? Isn’t that something, Stephanie?”
    Stephanie nods quickly. But my mother neighs again, this time even louder, more high-pitched. Rita starts to whimper, watching her closely.
    “Drop it, Tina,” my grandfather says. “I’m warning you.”
    “Not a horse, of course,” she says, no smile now. “You called me a whore.”
    He puts his fork down. “Don’t talk like that in my house.” He is speaking softly and quickly, and it’s difficult to hear him.
    “You said it! You’re the one who said it!” She leans back and laughs, holding out her arms. “Thanks for the introduction!”
    He looks at Eileen. “Get her to stop.”
    “Tina—” Eileen reaches over me, almost touching my mother’s hand. “Tina, please.”
    “I’m a mother, ” she says. “I’ve raised a child by myself. And that’s what you have to say about me? Still?” She waits, but no one says anything. “I feel sorry for you, then. I really do.”
    There are veins on my grandfather’s forehead that I did not see before. I can see them rising, filling up with blood. He grips the table with both hands, holding on so tightly that his nine fingers turn white, like the table will fly away from him if he