If she wanted me there, she would have said so. He eagerly bounded behind her, and though I longed to follow, I knew she wouldn’t approve. Lately whenever she and Dad fought, she sought solace in my brother. “Stanton, come with me, please,” she said as she strode past. When at last Stan backed away from the crack, he pulled me into the hallway with him right as Mom barreled out from her bedroom. The seconds of silence were agony, during which I imagined every possible scenario, from Mom being diagnosed with a deadly disease to Dad discovering a priceless pearl that would make us rich. Her mom would arrive any moment to pick him up, and Stanton was still in his nightclothes. Stanton was ten, so he attended school on a pod city with our neighbor, Jewel Belger.

I dutifully froze and awaited my big brother’s next cue. “Shhh.” He pointed to the crack in the sand-and-seashell wall through which he could listen into our parents’ room. He was in his room across the hall, one side of his face glued to the wall. I clambered out of bed, changed into my school uniform, and searched the bungalow for my parents. Every day, I’d awoken to the low-pitched call of the black seashell Dad had found for Mom on their first date she kept it buried in her hair, pinning up her long locks, and plucked it out only for our daily drills.īut this morning dawned unannounced. I remember knowing something was wrong when Helios’s rays-and not Mom’s whistle-roused me. There are dozens of memories that still haunt me, but that one always shoves its way to the surface first, submerging all other thoughts with its power. WHEN I THINK OF MOM, I think of the day she abandoned us. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission.

Wandering star romina russell