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Cast Aside: The Genius You Can't Have

Chapter 4

Word Count: 1103 | Released on: Today at 17:14

Perr

hth the whole Perry house was ful

nal preseason classic by twenty points

n barbecue for twenty-five neighbor

potato salad spooned into metal trays, twenty-pound bags of ice carried

r, laughing with the offensive coordinator's wife. "Don't put

r and wiped the oil off the cutting board.

ontaining four custom sweatshirts - Colton's numb

One for himself, one for my moth

so my mother could take pictures. I was still in the old T-shirt with

wanted one. Nobo

, dried them with a linen towel, and

ntil the fluorescent

the counter, the sausage-and-egg casserole

e kitchen, his face red from b

e in Schaumburg tomorrow morning and pick up his new custom mouthguard,

ing, Dad," I said, folding the

the impatience fl

could you possibly have that's more import

pers

waved

pulling your weight around here instead of acting

tairs, heavy-footed, i

tchen until the wh

oors upstairs c

came down through

on sound in Blake's

went down to t

t. Only the dim white glow of my p

ked and standing nex

s into clean dark jeans and a black cre

laptop and my document

ed. The thin wool blanket was f

's cleats and Blake's winter boots, right

re wasn't one thing in tha

es off the floor so the wheels

the outer edge of the trea

p up, the second-

n the doorway

u doing stan

n't a

n my hand. "You still haven

rs. "Drive me to dance at seven-thirty t

," I

den plaque my mother had commis

lores · Co

new, the edges still glossy.

en lit up and the line I'd been readi

ecogn

ver recog

slots. Fill out a form, wait three

or open. Going out doesn't need

ad never given me a single thing t

e. The lock engaging was

The trunk popped, the suitcase went in, the bottom corn

ere

said. "Ter

om the curb and turned

flat midwestern skyline, the suburban ho

it out. Three missed calls, one

ix tomorrow. Don'

SIM tray. The chip from the family plan droppe

ser

o one in that family could reach me again - no one could tell me to go downstairs and clear bo

he highway. The sky w

head against the cold wind

ing in Terminal 5 at O'Hare, w

er open for myself - I w

Chapter End

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Cast Aside: The Genius You Can't Have

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“From eighteen on, I worked three jobs. Overnight shifts at a burger place, standing until one in the morning. Trays in the school cafeteria all day, until my wrist swelled too much to hold a pen. The reservation desk at the library, ten dollars an hour, seven weekends of it. The money went home one paycheck at a time: Colton's cleats, the family broadband bill, the four tires on my father's car. I held on year after year because I believed one thing: if I held this family up, there would be a place in it for me. The day my father put the down payment on that house, I had forty-two dollars left in my bank account - everything that remained after I paid for Colton's season gear. Four bedrooms, given to themselves and my two brothers. My father finished counting the doors and slapped his forehead. "Oh - how did we forget you." The fourth room was left over, south-facing bay window, the best light in the house. He said this one was for the two boys to do their homework in - quiet, good light. My mother set up the green folding bed in the laundry room, right next to the water heater. "You're the oldest, Alexa. Be sensible. Your brother needs the space." For thirteen years, what I did in that house was the work of an unpaid maid who got room and board. "You're an adult now. Stop expecting the whole family to revolve around your schedule." I washed my brothers' jerseys. I carried their equipment bags. I slept on concrete. The family desktop was unplugged and hauled away to make room for Blake's shoe rack. The day I graduated first in my class, my father threw my certificate into the trash - that thing wouldn't get you an athletic scholarship. Back then I thought that if I scrubbed enough grease and kept my mouth shut, they would love me someday. In their eyes I was an appliance. So when the email came from Switzerland - a full research scholarship - I didn't say a word. Tuition and housing covered. I hadn't been able to bear leaving home, so I hadn't replied. Over three days I found myself three reasons I couldn't go. I thought each one through carefully. None of them held. On the fourth day I opened the cracked laptop on the laundry-room floor and clicked Accept.”