Read Up High in the Trees for Free Online Page B

Mother and Denise put pink curlers in Dad’s hair when he was sleeping. He woke up and drank more wine and then he let them finish. Mother told that story over and over again.
    Denise pumps the back of my chair and I go up. She wraps a silky smock around me and Velcros it behind my neck. I have to be still now. In the mirror, my face looks whiter and my eyes look darker.
    Denise sprays my hair with a water bottle. I close my eyes and listen to the scissors cutting. Denise knows I like the sound of the scissors so she doesn’t talk to me or ask me any questions.
    When she’s done, she takes off the smock and brushes the back of my neck with a brush that’s like a fat paintbrush to get off all the loose hairs.
    She lowers me down and I go to look in the bowl of prizes. There are lollipops, fuzzy stickers, and plastic rings. I look for an orange lollipop.
    Thank you, I hear Dad say.
    No problem, Denise says.
    You should bring him in every two months or so, she tells him.
    I find my lollipop and turn around to look at them.
    How much do I owe you? asks Dad.
    Denise waves her hand and shakes her head.
    No, really, Dad says.
    Denise smiles. She looks very different from Mother. You can see she has big boobs under her blue sweater. I don’t knowif Dad likes how Denise looks. Dad won’t really look at her. He keeps looking out the window.
    I’m going out for my coffee break, Denise says. I’ll walk you to your car.
    She puts up a sign in the front window that says BACK SOON and locks the door behind us. Next to Denise’s shop is the Laundromat that has a gumball machine and the Chinese restaurant, Don’t Wok on By.
    I think how if people see us together, they might think Denise is my Mom. I don’t like that. I want to run, but Dad grabs my hand. I walk faster, and try to pull him with me. Dad squeezes my hand harder.
    Stop, he whispers. We’re all the way over there, Dad says and points to our car in the middle of the parking lot. Cass put a CLINTON GORE sticker on Dad’s bumper, too. He doesn’t care.
    I’m headed this way, Denise says and nods at the Dunkin’ Donuts.
    Well, thank you, says Dad.
    Denise smiles again. Then she waves and walks the other way.
    Say thank you, Dad whispers to me.
    Thank you! I yell out to her.

    The doctor asks me if I’ve been having any trouble with my eyes.
    I shrug. Dad should’ve come in here with me to answer her questions.
    The doctor keeps smiling and she talks really slowly. She has a stretchy mouth. I don’t like her face.
    Okay, she says, first I’m going to look at the outside of your eyes and make sure they look healthy. She shines a light on me.
    I blink hard. I want to rub my eyes, but I can’t do that in front of her.
    How old are you now, Sebastian? she asks me.
    Eight, I tell her.
    She smiles too big. Okay, she says, I’m going to ask you to look at some letters. She walks across the room and pulls down a chart.
    Go ahead and read me the smallest row of letters you can see, she tells me.
    I squint at the chart. My eyes hurt. I feel hot in my cheeks and under my arms.
    Just do your best, the doctor says.
    I try. Then the doctor gives me lenses to look through and I keep trying to read the small letters.
    Okay, Sebastian, the doctor says, I’m going to go out and get your dad. She leaves me alone in the room.
    I look around. Hanging on the wall, there’s a pair of giantmetal glasses. In one lens is a big, round clock. In the other, it says, Time to get your eyes checked!
    When the doctor comes back with Dad, she says, Sebastian, you are going to need glasses. Then she looks at Dad and says, I think Sebastian’s eye muscles may have tightened. It can happen when vision goes uncorrected for too long and the eyes try to overcompensate. His last visit was, let me see. She looks at her notes and then says, Over a year ago. We won’t know his exact prescription until the muscles relax.
    Dad