Freeze Frame Read Free Page A

go get Dad.” Mom held Jason’s head in her arms. She still rocked back and forth. “Now, Mel. Go! ”
    Mel moved in slow motion. She rested her hand on the doorframe and stepped back out of the shed.
    â€œHurry!” Mom shouted.
    Mom changed at that moment—she became a still image. Everything in the shed lost the illusion of motion, as if the film had slipped off the reel.
    Freeze frame.
    Fast-forward…Pause…But there was no rewind.
    Play.
    â€œHurry!” Mom hollered again, the film spinning back on the reel.
    Mel jerked into action. Her ponytail bobbed up and down with each step. The kitchen door slammed shut. I heard distant shouts and hollers.
    Jason and I were the only ones left on pause. Stuck. I started to worry we’d never catch up.
    Come on, Jason. Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
    Dad got to the shed in three strides. Mel ran behind him. Dad wrenched the shed doors open all the way. The rusty metal and hinges moaned. Light streamed in. The gray disappeared and I felt relieved, squinting in the bright October light. Maybe the dream was over.
    â€œOh, Jesus, Kyle.” Dad gripped my shoulders and slipped the gun out of my hand. The gun was hot, burning through my palm. When it was gone, I felt like I could step away. Rewind everything and start again. But the rewind button was jammed, and we just moved forward—without direction, without a script.
    This wasn’t supposed to happen.
    â€œGod, Maggie, what’s going on?” Dad held his fingers to Jason’s neck. “Jesus Christ, oh Jesus,” he whispered.
    â€œI’ve called the ambulance. There’s a lot of blood. I, I—” Mom’s chin wrinkled and her voice wavered. “Michael, you need to go get Gail and Jim.”
    Why did Dad have to go get Mr. and Mrs. Bishop?
    I glared at Mom. I knew they’d be pissed. But they never said pissed at the Bishop household. So they’d probably be “totally disappointed.”
    Jason was just messing around. He was gonna get up soon. I waited for him to say something.
    â€œKyle, come on.” Dad pulled me out of the shed. Mel stood outside, shivering. “Melanie, get a coat. You need to wait out front for the ambulance. I’m going to get the Bishops.”
    Mel nodded dumbly, and Dad left me standing outside the shed in the wet grass. By then, I couldn’t feel my toes. I couldn’t feel anything.

5
    G ollum scratched his pointy chin. He looked at Dad, at Igor. “Michael, are you the legal owner of the gun?”
    Dad nodded.
    â€œCan you tell us why you had the gun?”
    â€œYeah. Ray, my brother; he had a pawnshop in Reno.” Dad cleared his throat. “He had some problems, so I bought him the gun.”
    The officers exchanged a look. There’s something about the word pawnshop that makes people get weird, like they’re embarrassed about it.
    â€œWhen he closed the shop, he returned it to me.” Dad’s voice got real quiet. “I didn’t even remember. It was so long ago.”
    â€œWe need to get your registration and permit. Canyou get that for us?”
    â€œOf course. Certainly. I brought it with me. Yesterday…” Dad’s voice trailed off. “I couldn’t seem to find anything.”
    The cops wrote furiously. Dad’s hands trembled, handing over the registration and permit. I felt like my sense of time was off again.
    I wanted it all to be over. I wanted the policemen to leave everybody alone. I wanted the sick feeling to leave my stomach. I wanted to stop smelling the burn. I wanted the movie to stop.
    â€œKyle.” Gollum leaned in. “I really need you to take us back to yesterday.”
    The rewind didn’t work. Didn’t he know that?
    â€œCan you do that?” His eyes widened, the lids peeling back.
    I rubbed my eyes. My throat tightened. It was hard to swallow. “But,” I stammered, “but the movie.