The Winner's Game(48)
“One more round!” I shout.
Bree shakes her head. “No way, I already won.”
Mom looks back and forth between us, then nods. “One more. But this one will be a little different, and it will definitely be for bragging rights.” She hands us each a rock and then takes a giant step back. “Now that we know you can all throw really hard, I want you to take a few steps back, then turn so you can see each other.”
I’m a little confused, but I follow her instructions. So do my sisters. After backing up, we’re all standing in a triangle, maybe twenty feet apart.
“Now,” Mom continues, “I want you to take that rock and throw it as hard as you can at one of your siblings. Whoever hits their target and draws the most blood is the winner.” She licks her lips like she can hardly wait for us to start killing each other.
Ann is as confused as me. “Huh?”
“You heard me. Take the rock, throw it at Bree—or Cade, if you prefer—and see how much damage you can do. Extra points if you can hit someone in the face.”
“We can’t do that,” says Bree. “Somebody could get hurt.”
Mom just shrugs. “So? Fifteen minutes ago you wanted at least one of them dead.”
“That was different.”
“Really?” She turns to Ann. “What about you, Ace? Care for a little retribution?”
“What if I put out one of their eyes? Is that what you want?”
“Don’t you want that?”
Ann scrunches her face in disgust. “You’re crazy.”
“Weak,” says Mom, repeating what Ann said earlier about one of Bree’s throws. “Cade? How about you? This is your chance. You gonna take a shot at the sisters you hate so much?”
I stare for a moment at the rock in my hand, wondering what it would feel like to hurl the thing at them. “Maybe, but…I have really good aim…and I don’t want to hurt them.”
“Then why,” she asks, sounding exasperated, “do you spend so much time and energy chucking verbal rocks at each other? The way you treat one another is toxic, and that’s putting it mildly. News flash, guys: Words hurt, no matter what they say about sticks and stones. You don’t want to hurt each other physically, but, heaven forbid, one of you so much as smiles the wrong way at someone, and it turns into a bloodbath.” She glances around the triangle, pausing to lock eyes with each of us. “Stop throwing stones.” Mom unclenches her fingers and lets several rocks drop from her hand. She gives us all a final disappointed look and then walks back to the Walrus.
I drop my rock and follow her.
Chapter 17
Emily
EVERYONE, PARK IT in the living room,” I tell the kids when we get home, before they can go their separate ways. They’re still not speaking to each other, so this may not be the best time to try this, but it may be the only shot I get.
“Is this going to be another lecture?” drones Bree. “We already got your message loud and clear. ‘Don’t throw stones.’”
“It’s not a lecture,” I assure her. “More like story time.”
Ann is already halfway up the stairs. As she stomps back down, she mutters, “This better be good.”
I have everybody take a seat on the couch, then I sit down in the lone chair near the puffer-fish lamp. “I’ve been thinking a lot about our family this past week. Well, not just this week—for a while actually, but last week one of you did something that gave me extra reason to pause, and I’d like to discuss it with you.”
Bree has a guilty look on her face. “Was it me?”
“It usually is,” pipes Ann.
“Oh, like you’re so perfect.”
While the girls trade glares, my gaze slowly drifts toward Cade, where it remains until he starts to squirm.
“What’d I do wrong this time?” he asks.
Trying to lighten the mood, I snicker. “Do you remember what you did a few days ago when we went to visit Grandma Grace?”
“Uh…I shot a rubber band at Bree?”
“You did?” Bree and I ask at the same time.
He shrugs. “I missed.”
“No, there was something else you did, when we were going through the large double doors to Grandma’s wing.”
He shrugs again. “I don’t know.”
“You held the door open for one of the nurses there who was walking through with a tray of pills.”
“I did?”
“Yes. Did you know that nurse?”
“No.”
“Never seen her before?”
“Nope.”