CHAPTER 25
JUNEAU TOSSED AND TURNED restlessly for a while before getting up. She wandered out to the hall to go to the bathroom, and then noticed that there were lights on downstairs. She hesitated, then went downstairs to investigate.
She peeked around the corner into the kitchen. Abe was busily cooking, the counters scattered with dishes and ingredients. He must have heard the floor creak, and looked up at Juneau.
“Hi sweetie,” he greeted with a smile. “Come on in.”
Juneau came the rest of the way into the kitchen.
“What are you making?” she questioned, surveying the ingredients.
“Mung dal soup,” Abe said, pointing, "beetroot raita, carrot halva.”
“Smells good,” Juneau said. "More Indian?”
“I’m predicting one of the upcoming food trends to be Ayurveda,” Abe said, nodding. "Not just Ayurvedic dishes, but principles of preparation. It’s all about balance, nourishing the soul and the body.”
“Can I taste?” Juneau questioned, inhaling the steam coming off of the soup.
In answer, Abe spilled part of a ladle full into a soup bowl and handed it to her.
“They believe that you can heal the body and the mind with food properly prepared,” Abe said. “The body and the mind,” he said emphatically.
Without getting a spoon, Juneau blew on her soup for a minute, and then sipped it directly from the bowl.
“Mmm, that’s good,” she approved.
She put the bowl down and rested her chin on her hands.
“I like it when you cook,” she said simply.
Abe smiled at her.
“I like it when you eat,” he countered.
Juneau nodded.
“It’s still hard,” she said, "but it’s easier… now that Theo’s gone… and you’re home and cooking again. I’m more calm about eating.”
“We’ll keep working on it. Maybe Ayurveda can help you too.”
“As long as you’re making it, I’ll try it.”
“Good,” he approved.
Juneau watched Abe continue to cook. He didn’t ask her why she was up, and she didn’t ask him why he was.
“Did you know that Crispin is afraid of getting schizophrenia?” Juneau asked.
Abe looked up at her, frozen for an instant. He looked back down at his pots, shaking his head.
“I didn’t know that,” he said.
“He knows that he could. He’s heard you and mom talking about it and stuff.”
Abe sighed.
“Poor Crispy. I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll be okay, June. It’ll all be okay now.”
“I know,” Juneau agreed quickly. “I’m glad it’s all over now. Everything can go back to normal again.”
Normal. Abe stirred the dal soup, wondering if he’d ever be able to achieve the right balance between the sweet and the bitter. He looked at Juneau’s face, and continued to stir.
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SNEAK PREVIEW OF "DEVIATION"
HENRY TRIED TO ENTER the room quietly and remain inconspicuous. Sort of hard when the class is all quiet for a lecture and you arrive halfway through the period. He scanned the room for an empty desk, and hoped that it was actually free, and not just empty because someone had gone to the restroom or was sick that day. He slipped in as quietly as possible, hoping that the teacher would just keep going. But Mrs. Phillips stopped mid-sentence, watching him. Henry sat down, his head down, his slightly-too-long hair falling down over his eyes. Henry’s round-framed glasses slid down his sweat-slick nose, and he pushed them back up again, leaning his forehead on his hand as he opened a notebook and prepared to take notes.
“Are you Henry?” Mrs. Phillips questioned.
The rest of the class watched with avid interest as she approached the desk.
“Yeah,” Henry admitted sheepishly. He tried to look confidently into her face, and saw her eyes widen slightly as she took in his appearance.
“Let’s go talk in the hall,” she suggested.
With the rest of the students’ eyes on them, Henry followed Mrs. Phillips out of the room and into the hall. She shut the door as the class began to buzz with gossip. She looked Henry over once more.
"What happened to your eye?"
Henry grinned nervously.
"Looks like someone belted me, huh?" he said. "I got up in the night to go to the can," he explained. "Didn't turn on the light. Slipped on my baby brother's toy. I dunno what I hit - the doorknob or the counter or what. Knocked me cold. My ma freaked out this morning. Made me go to the hospital to get it x-rayed. That's how come I'm late."
"Wow,” she said, smiling. "I just wanted to be sure. You realize school started two days ago?" She cocked an eyebrow questioningly.
Henry felt his face flush, and sweat started to trickle down his back.
"We were on vacation,” he explained, "I guess my ma got the start day mixed up. If she doesn't write things down, she gets the days wrong."
"Okay. Go sit down, I'll get you the list of supplies you need, and give you your assignment."
"Thanks," Henry breathed.
They headed back into the classroom. Henry slipped back into his seat, sweating heavily. Great way to start school; two days late and with a black eye. Good way to stay unnoticed. At least Mrs. Phillips didn’t seem to doubt his story. He waited for his heart to slow back down to normal, glancing around to see if any of his friends were in the class. There were a couple of acquaintances. No-one close. But then, he wasn't that close to anyone. He rubbed his sweating palms on his pants and plucked his shirt away from his body.
Miss Phillips came over and gave him the supply list and assignment that he had missed. She gave him a reassuring smile, and then went back to the front of the room to continue with her lecture. Henry read over the assignment and got to work. With any luck, he'd be caught up by the end of the day.
Henry made it through the rest of the morning unscathed. Other teachers looked at his black eye, but didn’t say anything about it. Since they were only a couple of days into the school year, they hadn’t covered anything new while he was gone. Just reviewing and warming up their brains for the upcoming semester. He wasn’t going to have to do a bunch of homework or studying to catch up again.
Henry scanned the cafeteria for familiar faces. The first year of high school, there were a lot of unfamiliar people here. And a lot more faces than there had been in junior high. The room was buzzing with barely controlled chaos. Hearing laughter nearby, Henry focused in on Andrew, a boy he had known since kindergarten. There was an empty seat next to him, and Henry moved over toward it, and looked at Andrew questioningly. Andrew’s eyes lit up.
“Henry! Hey man, I haven’t seen you around,” Andrew enthused. "Thought that maybe you’d moved or something. Come on, have a seat.”
Henry slid into the seat.
“Thanks.”
Andrew took a bit of his sandwich, looking Henry over.
“Hey, you know you got a shiner?” he questioned around a mouthful.
There were giggles from some of the surrounding students. Andrew was sort of a class clown. He liked an audience.
“Yeah, I did notice,” Henry said dryly.
“You get in a fight or something? I should see the other guy?”
Henry shook his head, peeling back the edges of the plastic wrap of his sandwich.
“No… I gotta start putting on my glasses and the light when I get up at night. Stop walking into doors.”
Andrew laughed, nodding.
“Just how strong are those pop bottles? You blind without them?”
“If it’s pitch dark, yeah,” Henry agreed. “May as well have my eyes shut. In fact, maybe I’d see better with my eyes shut!”
Andrew giggled. He gestured to the boy seated across from him.
“Do you know Tony?”
/> “No.” Henry sketched a salute. "Hi. I’m Henry.”
“Henry’s a stand-up guy,” Andrew declared. "And real handy with homework if you need help.” Andrew nodded significantly. “Tony’s new this year, just moved into the neighborhood. He’s in most of my classes.”
Henry nodded, munching on his sandwich. The bread was stale and a bit dry. And there hadn’t been nearly enough peanut butter to coat the slices. With just bread and jam, he was going to be starving by the time he got home. But he wasn’t going to use the school lunch program unless he had to. He got enough teasing as it was.
“And I guess you know everyone else,” Andrew said.
Henry glanced at the others in the immediate vicinity. A few familiar faces from junior high last year. No one that he was particularly friendly with, but no one who bullied him, either.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
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Deviation by P.D. Workman, first book in the series Breaking the Pattern is coming soon!
Also by this Author
Mystery/Suspense:
Looking Over Your Shoulder
Lion Within (Coming Soon)
Young Adult Fiction:
Breaking the Pattern:
Deviation
Diversion
By-Pass
Between the Cracks:
Ruby
June and Justin
Michelle (Coming in 2016)
Stand Alone
Tattooed Teardrops
Don’t Forget Steven
Those Who Believe
Cynthia has a Secret (Coming Soon)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOR AS LONG AS P.D. Workman can remember, the blank page has held an incredible allure. After a number of false starts, she finally wrote her first complete novel at the age of twelve. It was full of fantastic ideas. It was the spring board for many stories over the next few years. Then, forty-some novels later, P.D. Workman finally decided to start publishing. Lots more are on the way!
P.D. Workman is a devout wife and a mother of one, born and raised in Alberta, Canada. She is a homeschooler and an Executive Assistant. She has a passion for art and nature, creative cooking for special diets, and running. She loves to read, to listen to audio books, and to share books out loud with her family. She is a technology geek with a love for all kinds of gadgets and tools to make her writing and work easier and more fun. In person, she is far less well-spoken than on the written page and tends to be shy and reserved with all but those closest to her.
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Please visit P.D. Workman at pdworkman.com to see what else she is working on, to join her mailing list, and to link to her social networks.
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