Free Breaking Point by Jon Demartino Page A

the Kiwanis Club's award picnic and our Charlie even made a little speech. Some of the other boys from the home were in the picture, too, but our Charlie was the award winner that summer. I have the picture that was in the paper, but it's not as nice as the other one. Our neighbor, Mr. Belder, worked for the newspaper and he brought us the original photograph as a keepsake. Did you find it mixed in with Charlie's belongings?"
                  I assured her that I hadn't found the picture yet and asked if she would mail me the newspaper version so I could see it.
                  "Oh my, no. I couldn't take a chance that something would happen to that one and then what would I do? No, I'm afraid not. I just couldn't."
                  I tried to explain "faxing" to her and then to her husband, but neither would trust the process to keep their picture intact. If I ever wanted to see it, I would probably have to fly out to Everly, California.
                  A little while later, as I was eating my dinner, I remembered that I'd never returned Maxine's phone call of the night before. After washing down the last bite of Jif on white with a Coke, I got her on the first ring.
                  "Hey, Max, How are you?'
                  "Oh, Hi Rudy." She sounded less than enthusiastic. "I thought it was going to be Talmadge. He's supposed to call me back to let me know when he'll be home for dinner."
                  "What did you cook, Max?" Food had always been an excellent topic when I needed to divert my sister's attention. It worked its magic once again.
                  "Oh, I saw an eggplant parmesan recipe on the Cooking Channel, where they used hot sausage with the eggplant and I wanted to try it. I made a few changes, though, and added caramelized garlic pieces instead of green pepper. That pepper is too overpowering in a recipe like this. Do you want to come down and try some?"
                  "Oh, man, I wish I'd known about that earlier. I just ate, and the peanut butter is still on my teeth."
                  "Rudy! You are impossible. Why would you eat that junk when you know you're always welcome here?"
                  She was right. I'd always been as welcome in Maxine's home as I would have been in our parents', if they'd been alive. At the moment, though, I was afraid of what I might say or do to my brother-in-law if I had to sit at the same table with him.
                  "Tell you what, Max; I'll come down tomorrow if you save me a piece of that eggplant stuff. I have to run up to West Fork in the morning, so how about if I come down around one o'clock and we'll have lunch together?"
                  "Rudy, do you know something you need to tell me about Talmadge? Is that why you're coming?"
                  "No, Sis. Really. I just wanted to spend a little time with you. Now that I'm just a couple of miles away, I plan to take advantage of it and stop in for lunch as often as I can. Besides, you made me hungry for that eggplant thing. So do you want me or not?"
                  She did, indeed, want me to drop in. As a matter of fact, the idea seemed to change her mood from depressed to eager.
                  "Now, Rudy, do you remember that mission I told you about where they collect clothing and things for the underprivileged? Well, I was going to stop over there tomorrow, and I have a bunch of really heavy boxes and bags of things to donate so maybe you could carry them to the car for me and ride along while I drop them off. Then you could carry them inside for me, too."
                  I said that I had no recollection of ever discussing a mission with her. I realized, of course, that the donations had nothing to do with Maxine's own mission, which was probably to introduce me to some woman she'd decided was just perfect