What Kills Me Read Free

nest outside of
Tiffy’s window. Yesterday, these birds kept flying back and forth
around the yard so I figured they built a nest in the tree. Daddy
looked, and sure enough, there was a nest with three baby
birds.”
    “Cute.”
    “Whenever we go out, the mother bird
dives at you. They fly very low and in front of you to scare you
away. Daddy was sitting by our pond, feeding the fish and one came
and touched the back of Daddy’s head.”
    “That’s crazy. Mom must be freaking
out.”
    “Mommy’s outside right now gardening
with a tennis racket.”
    I pictured my mother outside in her
floppy straw hat, twirling around, wielding the tennis racket like
a giant fly swatter and I burst into laughter.
    “I told her not to hit them,” my
father said. “They’re just protecting their babies.”
    “Dad, Sofia instituted a curfew of
nine o’clock.”
    “Well, you know, maybe she’s more
conservative. She’s just concerned about you. Especially with
single, young girls, you don’t want them to stay out
late.”
    I decided then not to tell him about
getting lost.
    “I understand, but nine is really
early,” I said.
    “You should respect Sofia’s wishes.
She is taking care of you.”
    “I guess,” I said. “Hey Dad, can I
call you tomorrow? Ryka’s online.”
    “Okay, talk to you
tomorrow.”
    “Bye Dad. Love you.”
    “Love you too.”
    I wrote Ryka an instant message: “U
there?”
    “Just woke up.”
    “Guess what?”
    “What?”
    “I met a boy.”
    “TELL ME.”
    “Calling you on Skype. Turn your
camera on.”
    When Ryka appeared on my screen, I
said, “Nice hair.” Her short hair stood up in two puffs like cat
ears.
    “Shut up. We all don’t have Italian
stallions to impress, okay?”
    “Ry, I met the cutest guy and I’m
never going to see him again.”
    “What? So dramatic! What
happened?”
    “I went for a walk last night and
because I’m an idiot, I didn’t have a map and I got lost. So, I’m
wandering around Rome, trying to find Sofia’s house and I turn
around and there’s this beautiful guy standing there.”
    “How beautiful?”
    “Like dark-haired, blue-eyed, ten
times prettier-than-me beautiful.”
    “Shut up,” she said, rolling her
eyes.
    “At first, I thought he wanted to rob
me. But then he helped me back to Sofia’s house and asked me to
meet him tonight.”
    “Look at you, Miss Zee!”
    “Wait, you forgot the rest of it. I
can’t meet him.”
    “Why not?”
    “Sofia imposed a curfew on us. It
becomes a prison at nine.”
    “No. Can you sneak out?” she asked
with a wink.
    “Very funny Ry. I can’t risk getting
caught and getting kicked out.”
    “Zee, why would the universe introduce
you to the most beautiful guy in Italy only to have you never see
him again?”
    “Because the universe likes to torture
me?”
    “Come on. You’re in Rome. Live a
little!”
    “I know but…”
    “But what? You’re just going to leave
him hanging?”
    “Oh, Ry. He probably won’t show up
anyway.”
    “He will. And then his feelings will
be hurt.”
    She knew how to guilt me into action.
After I hung up, I came up with a compromise. Before I lost my
nerve, I wrote a note:
    Dear Paolo,
    It was so nice to meet you yesterday.
Thank you for helping me home. I really wanted to hang out tonight
but my homestay family surprised me with a curfew of 9 p.m. I’m so
sorry. Please let me make it up to you with twice as much gelato.
Are you free Monday afternoon? Please meet me at the pizzeria at
3:30 p.m. Also, here’s my e-mail address and number.
    Later that afternoon, I
gave the waiter at the pizzeria a description of Paolo (“Dark hair,
blue eyes, bellissimo ,”) and the letter, and ran home.
    What if he gets annoyed
and decides that he doesn’t want anything to do with me? Well, he
would be missing out.
    Shortly after 9 p.m., I lay
on my bed, staring at the ceiling fan and listening to its hypnotic
whir. I imagined Paolo’s crooked smile. I imagined the husky way