Evolution Read Free

I’d be happy to relay it to her.”
    Richard let out an exasperated breath. “Please tell her I’ll be there to visit her in the morning.”
    A long silence fell. “Sir, Mrs. Resnick is….”
    “She hasn’t got much time, has she?”
    “It isn’t my place to say,” the woman said, but her tone conveyed more than mere words could.
    “Please tell her to hang on, and that I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
    “I’ll do that, sir. And thank you.”
    Richard settled the receiver onto its cradle and frowned. It had been a mistake—a big mistake three months before—to have called his biological mother. If he’d known she was dying of cancer, maybe he wouldn’t have called. Then he could have been oblivious to her pain, to her suffering. But now, at the end, she’d reached out to him. He’d already reneged on the promise to visit her again, and now he had to make it right.
    He exited the conference room and headed for the charge nurse’s station to see if he could get someone to cover for him for a few hours.
    #
    I’ll never forget that cold Wednesday in March. Tommy Kravitz had been busting my balls all afternoon, swearing that The Big Orange—Syracuse—was going to nail a Sweet Sixteen birth in March Madness. No way! Villanova had much better stats, and their center was looking at a career in the NBA about thirty seconds after he graduated.
    The discussion had kept me thinking about other—lots more important—things … until I saw Richard standing on the walk outside my school’s main entrance. I’d only met him once before, but I remembered his face. Remembered that grown-up moustache.
    “I’ve got some bad news,” he said by way of greeting.
    I went cold over all. “She’s dead. Isn’t she?”
    He nodded, avoiding my gaze. “I’m sorry, kid.”
    A group of giggling teenaged girls passed us, giving Richard the eye. He motioned for me to follow him to the parking lot. The sky was bright blue on that raw March day. How could someone die on such a beautiful winter’s day? I slid into the passenger side of Richard’s red Porsche two-seater. I’d never sat in an import before. The dashboard looked strange—as foreign as the controls on a space ship.
    Richard took papers from the breast pocket of his topcoat and showed them to me. “As of today, I’m officially your legal guardian. You’re going to come live with me.”
    Anger flashed through me. “What if I don’t want to?”
    “I’m afraid you’ve got no choice.”
    I swallowed my pique and tried to be grown up. “What about school?”
    “You can finish the year here if you want. You’ll be going to Amherst Central next fall.”
    No choices. Just commandments. My mother was dead and a stranger was calling the shots.
    “What about my stuff?”
    “We’ll go pack a bag now. We can get the rest later.”
    I ground my molars so hard, I was sure they’d crack. “What about Mom? Can I see her?”
    “Tomorrow, at the funeral parlor. The service will probably be Friday.”
    I nodded, and stared ahead at nothing.
    The silence lengthened.
    “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked finally.
    I looked into his clear blue eyes and saw fear—as if he was wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.
    I shook my head. What else was there to say?
    A group of stragglers exited the building. What was the point of finishing the school year there? I had no close friends. Why delay the inevitable?
    Richard turned the key in the ignition and we drove away.
    #
    I unlocked the apartment door and stepped inside, with Richard right behind me. It wasn’t at all welcoming. I’d been staying there alone after my mother had been taken to the hospital by ambulance, but I’d kept up with my chores. The dishes still stood in the drying rack; the table had been wiped, and I’d done the laundry and folded and put it away. I’d kept busy because it was better than thinking about the future. I’d only visited my mother once in the hospital. It had