Читать книгу Of Things Gone Astray - Janina Matthewson - Страница 15

JAKE TRIED HIS HARDEST NOT to expect waffles when he walked into the kitchen, and it was a good thing he did. His dad was eating cereal standing up, staring into the small, overgrown garden. Jake chewed his lip and crossed to the cupboard to look for bread. There were only two pieces left and one of them was an end. He sighed and immediately regretted it. He hated it when people sighed. His dad never sighed, although you’d think he had plenty of reason to. Jake put the bread in the toaster.

‘Good morning,’ his dad said while Jake was spreading peanut butter on his toast. Jake wondered if it had taken him that long to notice him, or just that long to remember to say hello.

‘Hi,’ Jake replied.

‘Your teacher says you’re doing well at school. I called her last night to ask how things were going, how you were settling in.’

Jake had trouble remembering what it had been like talking to his dad before, but he was pretty sure they’d never had conversations like this. Had they talked about TV? Did they tell each other jokes?

‘I guess so,’ he said. ‘I have a spelling test today.’

‘Good,’ said his dad. ‘That’s good.’

Jake tried to think of something sensible to say. ‘How’s your work?’ he settled on with a tiny grimace.

‘Oh, fine. It’s fine. I should get started for the day, actually.’

Jake watched his dad walk out of the kitchen and head slowly to his office. He wondered if he should have had some kind of funny story from school. He couldn’t remember if anything funny had happened there recently.

He sat at the table and finished his toast. His dad had forgotten what day it was. He’d forgotten there was something to celebrate. Jake decided not to mind. He decided to try his hardest not to mind. He washed his dishes and went to his room to get his school bag.