My Name Is Leon Read Free

room.
    â€œI’ve just got him off to sleep,” she says and sits down. “Did he wake you up?”
    â€œI can’t sleep, Mom.”
    â€œTry,” she says.
    â€œI can’t. Can I have a story?”
    Carol says nothing for a few moments and he thinks she might say no or that she’s too tired but she takes a deep breath and starts.
    â€œThis is a story my dad used to tell me.”
    â€œIs it scary?”
    â€œScary?” Carol shakes her head and smiles. “No, listen. Once upon a time there was a mother with two boys, one was a baby. The oldest boy was very noisy. He had a very loud voice and he used to shout and bang his drum and kick the door and sing at the top of his voice and the mother used to tell him off. ‘Ssssh,’ she would say, ‘you’ll wake the baby.’ And the boy’s teacher would say, ‘Ssssh, we can’t do our lessons.’ And the minister at church would say, ‘Ssssh. We’re in a holy place.’ And the boy felt lonelylike nobody loved him. He decided to run away. But when he got to the edge of the village, he saw a big bad wolf coming to eat everyone up. He was too far away to run back and warn everyone, so he opened his mouth as wide as he could and he roared, ‘THERE’S A WOLF COMING!’ And he saved the whole village and his mother and his brother, and nobody ever told him to be quiet again.”
    â€œIs that the end?”
    â€œYes. They all lived happily ever after. Sleep time now. Snuggle in. School tomorrow, sweetheart,” she says and strokes his forehead.
    â€œAm I sick? I might be sick,” he says.
    â€œNo, you’re not sick. Definitely school tomorrow.”
    Carol says this every night but it’s been five days since Leon went to school.
    â€œIf you don’t go to school you won’t learn anything, Leon. If you don’t learn anything you can’t get a good job and a nice house and lots of toys. You like toys, don’t you? I saw you! I saw those toys you took up to your room! Eh? Eh?”
    Carol starts scrabbling her fingers on his chest, making him laugh.
    â€œAnd anyway, you get bored at home and drive me nuts.”
    â€œI can help with the baby,” Leon says.
    â€œJake. His name is Jake.”
    â€œYou said—”
    â€œIt’s his dad’s middle name. Well, I changed Jack to Jake because I like it better. Do you, Leon?”
    She kisses him before she turns off the light but Leon doesn’t kiss her back. She promised he could call the baby Bo from The Dukes of Hazzard. Bo’s got a red car and blond hair. His real name is Beauregard Duke and he’s the best one in the whole show. Jake-regard sounds stupid. Leon doesn’t know anyone at schoolcalled Jake and no one on TV called Jake. There is a shop on the other side of the highway called “Jake’s Bakes” where they sell pies and fries and when the baby goes to school he’s going to get teased about it. Leon wonders if he can get his mom to change her mind. Jake is the worst name he’s ever heard.

3
    Leon has begun to notice the things that make his mom cry: when Jake makes a lot of noise; when she hasn’t got any money; when she comes back from the phone booth; when Leon asks too many questions; and when she’s staring at Jake.
    It’s the third night that Leon and Jake are both sleeping at Tina’s. It keeps happening all the time. Carol takes them up to Tina’s and then she leaves them there for a few days. Last week it was two nights and before that it was three nights and sometimes it feels like they’re never going home. Jake’s basket goes next to Leon’s den bed. Leon watches Jake for a few minutes because he makes special whistling noises when he breathes out and he makes his little hands into fists like Muhammad Ali. Jake opens his eyes and doesn’t even cry. His eyes have become bright, zingy blue but the middle is