Free Sandra Hill by Down, Dirty Page A

doctor.”
    Oh, no, you don’t. No one’s cuttin’ up my head.
    “There’s got to be some reason why you’re acting out like this. I can’t believe you would want to go back to your grandfather.”
    Where else would I go?
    “As far as I can tell, you weren’t treated very well in his camps.”
    What do you know, Mr. Pretty Boy? Where were you when my mother died? Where were you when my grandfather’s men killed my nanny and dragged me into the desert?
    “You do know that your mother wanted you to come live with me, don’t you?”
    Why is he talking? Why isn’t he hitting me? That’s what everyone does when I do something bad. Even when I don’t do anything bad.
    “Are you testing me? Trying to see how far you can push me before I explode? Ah, I can see by the flickering of your eyelashes that I’m getting close. Do you want me to explode? Then you can blame it all on me?”
    Explode? My father exploding? Yeech, I don’t want any guts on me. What’s that name for what happens when a body explodes? Oh, yeah. Pink mist. That’s just what it looks like, too.
    “I’m running out of people to take care of you when I’m at work. I don’t want to send you away, but I’ll have to if you don’t shape up.”
    See. Only two weeks and he’s ready to send me away.
    He heard his father sigh heavily before saying, “I’m hungry. I’m thinking pizza, Pepsi, and a video game before bed. But you’re probably too tired to get up. Maybe I’ll save you a cold piece for breakfast. Unless you would prefer more spinach salad.”
    Pizza…my favorite! He’s gonna eat my favorite food while I’m sleeping. What a pig!
    Samir cracked open one eyelid. His father was already headed toward the door.
    “Okay,” he said, sitting up.
    He expected his father to smirk when he turned around or say something nasty, but all he said was “Okay what?”
    “Okay, I’ll eat if I have to.”
    “Have to?”
    “I’m not playin’ that Dora the Explorer game, though, I’ll tell you that right now. What do you think I am? A baby? I wanna play Firing Range: Blood and Guts .”
    His father laughed. “In your dreams, short stuff.”
    Samir made a face, but he kinda liked it when his father called him “short stuff.” He said it in a way that Samir thought other fathers might talk to their sons. “How ’bout Ghosts and Ghoulies ?”
    “Give me a break.”
    “I still hate you.”
    “That’s just great.
    Samir stood and adjusted his shorts.
    “What’s wrong?”
    He continued to pull at the waist and legs of his shorts. “Those stupid Superman underpants you bought me are stuck in my crack.”
    “Way more intel than I need to know! What did you wear when you were in Afghanistan?”
    “Nothing.”
    “You’re kidding?”
    “Nope. When you gotta piss in the middle of a firefight, you don’t wanna take the time to pull your underwear down.”
    His father’s jaw dropped open.
    “What do you do in the middle of a battle?”
    “I wear underwear, and don’t you dare try going commando around here. You’ll give Madrene a heart attack, and the little girls in the neighborhood will be filing sexual harassment lawsuits.”
    “That witch needs a heart attack. An’ all the little girls round here are nothin’ but whiny-ass split tails.” Anyhow, that’s what his uncles called most girls.
    “That was not nice.”
    He shrugged.
    “Were you around actual fighting very much?”
    “There was always bombs and guns goin’ off. Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam! Never knew when one would hit. A bomb hit our house one night. Ka-boom! Then we lived in a cave.”
    His father stared at him as if he might be thinking about hugging him.
    Samir ducked around him and started down the stairs.
    “Kid, you’re gonna be the death of me yet.”

Chapter 5
    A woman can have multiple WHAT?…
    Britta was facing a difficult dilemma, unlike any she’d ever experienced afore.
    Should she attempt to go back to the place where she’d fallen off the cliff,