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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

“Okay,” Officer Scruggs said. “That’s probably enough for now. I’ll be wanting to talk with your sister next.”

Nate felt a wave of anger pass over him as he thought of his sister sitting in the car with Officer Scruggs. The policeman would have gum for Junie too, of course, and she would take it. If Officer Scruggs asked his sister if their mom had a bad temper, Junie might think about the times she’d left her model horses lying around on the living room floor and say, She gets real mad sometimes. If he asked, Did your mom ever get angry at your dad? she’d tell him, Lots of times. And he would write it all down in his notebook and bring it back to the police station.

“So,” Officer Scruggs said, “if you’d just go get your sister for me . . .”

Nate drew in his breath. He imagined he was standing on the pitcher’s mound, with a full count and the best hitter in the league coming up to bat. He gave the officer a look meant to bore straight into his eyeballs. He wound up for the pitch and released it. A rocket.

“My sister’s only seven. You have no right to make her do this, and I’m not going to let you.” His voice hadn’t actually changed yet, but it sounded deeper than he’d expected.

“Okay,” the policeman said. “I’ll leave it for now. You can go.”

Nate let out his breath. For the first time he could remember, he had told a grown-up what to do—not just any grown-up, either, but a police officer—and that person had actually done it. He opened the car door slowly and stepped out. Then he leaned back inside and spoke to the man one more time.

“Leave our family alone now,” Nate said. “Go away, please.”

He closed the door behind him.

Twenty-Three

IT WAS AFTER SUPPERTIME WHEN NATE’S MOTHER finally got home. Nate had gone ahead and fixed Junie and himself a meal: scrambled eggs, popcorn, and Oreos. Junie was in the tub with her horses, and Nate was washing the dishes. He knew as soon as he looked at his mother—her face drawn, hat tipped slightly to one side—that the meeting with Sam Carter hadn’t gone well.

“He won’t budge on calling in the loan,” she said. “We have to sell the farm.”