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Back The Cloud Chamber Save as PDF
Chapters (35)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Author’s Note
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Twenty-Seven
  33. Twenty-Eight
  34. Twenty-Nine
  35. Thirty

“If I can forgive a person for something like that,” she said, “I would’ve thought God could.”

Nineteen

“I HAVE SOMETHING TO DISCUSS WITH YOU TWO,” Nate’s mother told them over breakfast the next day. For a moment Nate thought she might finally tell them about their father—how he was doing, when he might be getting out of the hospital. But it was about Junie’s pony.

“I know you love Bucky, sweetheart,” she said, putting a thin arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “But it doesn’t make any sense to spend money on feed and shelter and shoes for an animal you can’t even ride when I can barely come up with money for the electric bill. Not only that. That pony is dangerous. Just today he kicked his hind leg at Rufus. It’s a wonder Rufus didn’t need stitches. As it was, he only spilled a five-gallon bucket of cream.”

Junie and Nate knew where their mother was going with this, of course. Nate studied Junie—the still, slow curtain of sorrow lowering over her features, the anxious tension in her shoulders.

“Your grandfather has talked to a rancher he knows over in Salt Creek,” their mother said. “He’s willing to take Bucky and put him out to pasture. A lot of people would just send him to the glue factory and get a few dollars for him, but I’m willing to give Bucky away to find him a nice home.”

“He has a nice home,” Junie said. “With us.”

“We can’t keep him anymore, Junie. It’s just too difficult.”

Junie started to cry. “Bucky’s my best friend,” she sobbed. “He’s going to start acting normal soon.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” their mother said. “I’ve made up my mind. There’s nothing you can do to change it. They’re picking Bucky up tomorrow afternoon while you’re at school. You can say good-bye to him in the morning.”

Normally, Nate woke up a little after six, which gave him just time enough to take a shower, dress, and wolf down a quick breakfast before Henry pulled into the drive. That morning, for some reason, he was wide awake just after five. He put his hand on the glass of the window, same as always, to get an idea of whether it would be a long or short underwear day. Short, definitely.

He looked out to the yard. The snow was almost completely gone, and though the branches on the laurel tree were still bare, it would be just another few weeks until the leaves would be budding. And the birds were back. Just over the clothesline a single brown snipe made its unmistakable swoop skyward, then dove straight down, as if on some kamikaze mission. Nate could hear the faint sound of melted snow running through the creek behind the shed.