Contents ( 42)
- The Art of Breathing
- Part One: How We Became Who We Are
- Prologue: Or, Where the Kid Hears the Word of the Day
- 1. Where Tyson Learns to Breathe
- 2. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 3. Where Tyson Graduates and Bear Freaks Out
- 4. Where Tyson Says Good-Bye
- 5. Where Tyson Gets the Mail
- Part Two: Coming Home
- 6. Where Tyson Comes Home
- 7. Where Tyson Gives a History Lesson
- 8. Where Tyson Attends the Most Awkward Party Ever
- 9. Where Tyson Plans Attends a Protest
- 10. Where Tyson Gets Arrested
- 11. Where Tyson Gets His Ass Handed to Him
- 12. Where Tyson Writes Bad Poetry and Gawks at Frat Boys
- 13. Where Tyson Decides to Man the Fuck Up
- 14. Where Tyson Asks Some Questions
- 15. Where Tyson Remembers Theresa Jean Paquinn
- 16. Where Tyson Learns the Benefit of Therapy
- 17. Where Tyson Meets the Man Who Becomes Helena Handbasket
- 18. Where Tyson Gets Screwed at His Own Birthday Party (And Not in a Good Way)
- Part Three: Just Breathe
- 19. Where Tyson Goes to Helena Handbasket’s Sex Dungeon
- 20. Where Tyson Beholds the Awesome Wonder That Is Paul Auster
- 21. Where Tyson Receives Advice from the Six Sages
- 22. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 23. Where Tyson Hears the Inevitable
- 24. Where Tyson Meets His Match
- 25. Where Tyson Says Hello, Where Tyson Says Good-bye
- 26. Where Tyson Touches upon the Inevitable
- 27. Where Tyson Faces the Music
- 28. Where Tyson Breathes
- 29. Tyson And Dominic
- 30. The Art Of Breathing
- Epilogue: Or, Bear’s Perspective, As It Were (Yeah, He’s Gonna Freak)
- Author’s Note
- Excerpt
- Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
- More from TJ Klune
- Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
- By TJ Klune
There’s Ty (always the Kid) and me when he was seven years old. I’m looking at him, and he’s looking at the camera. Anna took the picture, I think. He’s smiling wide and there’s a tooth missing. I’ve never told anyone, not even Otter, that when he first started losing his teeth, I panicked, sure he was going to swallow one in the middle of the night and choke to death. There were a few sleepless nights whenever he had a loose tooth, as I’d camp outside his door, waiting to hear any choking sounds.
There’s the Kid and Otter on our beach.
The Kid and Mrs. Paquinn.
The Kid and Creed.
The Kid and Dom, arms around each other’s shoulders, mugging it up for the camera.
Ty graduating.
Ty his first day sober after the long dark, looking pale, but that undying spark still shining in his eyes.
Ty, the day before he set out on his own.
After he left, his room became a refuge for me. It was my place to hold on to something I knew I had to let go of. No matter how hard it was. No matter how much it hurt. No matter how much it terrified me.
It’s gotten better. Or rather, I have. I think. I still find myself in here sometimes, though not as much as I used to be.
But today is a different day. I’m allowing myself this moment, because of all the changes today is about to bring—and what the future holds for all of us.
I’ll admit that under the relief of hearing Tyson say he was coming back to Seafare, I felt a twinge of disappointment. Not because of his reasons behind coming home or what he planned to do with his life, but more because I wanted him to get out of Seafare, to leave behind this place and all the memories that came with it. But then it hit me that all the bad can never compare to everything good that has happened to us in this place. In this town. We were knocked down, but we picked ourselves up. Every time. And we’ll do it again. So while I might have been just a tad bit upset, that left when I realized it was his life, and this is his home too. And if that’s what he wants to do, then I’m behind him on it. He is my brother, after all. That’s what we do. It’s the only thing to do.
This room, though. These photos. All these things. There’s a lifetime of memories in here, even though we’ve barely begun.
It’s easy to get lost in them.
Otter comes up behind me, wrapping his big arms around my waist, dropping his chin on my shoulder. He kisses my ear and I squirm, trying to complain but unable to keep the smile from my face. Even after all this time, I get butterflies in my stomach when he touches me.
“Hey,” he says.