JACK KNIFED Read Free Page A

his neck. “She was seriously messed up when she hit me. I think she felt sorry about it later. That’s why she bought me a Curious George.”
    “Curious George?”
    “Yeah, the stuffed monkey. I was so messed up then, I thought it was worth it. Like a dog that’s beaten down—if you show it a little love, it follows you anywhere.”
    Replacement’s lips pressed together. She shook her head. “I never realized how screwed up you had it.”
    Jack scoffed. “Thanks.”
    Replacement settled back into her seat and put her feet back on the dash.
    After another couple of miles, Jack clicked his tongue.
    “What?” Replacement turned away from the window.
    “I just thought of something…I wonder if I can find out my real name?”
    Replacement nodded. “I couldn’t find out your real name online. You’re just listed as ‘boy.’ Stratton is your adoptive parents’ last name, right?”
    “Yeah. It’s kinda weird that I picked my own name. Think about it. I chose Jack, and I gave myself my middle name, too.”
    “Aunt Haddie is very proud that you picked Alton to honor her husband.”
    “Aunt Haddie was the best foster mother in the world.” He gripped the steering wheel with one hand, looked over at her, and decided to joke. “She did okay with you, too.”
    “Okay? I was the pick of the litter.” Replacement made a goofy face.
    Jack kept glancing at her, searched her eyes for some clue…
    Aunt Haddie had known Jack’s whole backstory. But she still said that Replacement had it harder than him growing up. Jack wondered what had happened to her.
    Jack tried to drive the list of “what could be worse” out of his head by concentrating on the road. The miles slowly went by. Jack rolled the window three-quarters of the way up. As he listened to the car’s tires echo against the guardrail, he scanned the objects that had collected on the side of the road: bags, old tires, a baseball hat. That hat bothered him.
    Did it just get blown off someone’s head or was it tossed aside? What am I, then? Did she throw me out or could she not hold on to me?
    The guardrail ended, and Jack stared at the road as it sped by.
    Either way, it’s trash now.
    Jack felt the familiar burn of shame in his chest. His lips pressed together, and his throat tightened.
    Just like me. Why do I keep doing this…thinking about her? It was so long ago, but I can’t get what happened out of my head. I shouldn’t let any of that junk define me, but I still do. I’m driving in circles, caught in some loop that I can’t break out of. I want to know why she abandoned me…but some things, I guess, I’ll never know…

Thanks For Scaring Me
    They turned off the highway, and Jack flexed his hands. They hurt. He must have had a death grip on the steering wheel. The off-ramp led to a commercial section outside of the cute little postcard town they’d just passed. Homes with manicured lawns gave way to auto shops and supply companies. He slowed down as they drove past an empty shipping facility and turned onto a long curving driveway. The mental hospital wasn’t anything like Jack expected. He was anticipating a prison, but instead it looked like a large, brick school building.
    “Everyplace has lepers.” Jack stared straight ahead. “They used to take them all and put them into one place, a leper colony.”
    “That always freaked me out.” Replacement shuddered.
    “What?”
    “Lepers. I mean…a disease where stuff rots and falls off you. Aunt Haddie told me that Bible story and I wanted to puke.”
    “When she read it to me I got pissed.” Jack glanced over at her.
    “Why?”
    “Jesus healed ten lepers; only one came back and thanked him. One? Not a good return on his investment.”
    “I don’t think he did it for that.”
    Jack shrugged.
    Even though it was cold, people walked around outside. As they pulled up, Jack noticed that everyone who walked around was in pairs.
    It’s not a retirement home; it’s an insane