Living in Threes by Judith Tarr - Sample Chapter - Book View Cafe

Judith Tarr 5
in Egypt?”
“Learn,” said Mom. “Explore. Be part of
something big.”
“Florida is big enough for me,” I said. “What
about Bonnie? And the trip to Disney World? And
turtle watch? Turtle watch is important. The
college needs us to count those eggs. That’s big,
too. It’s real. It’s now. Not fifty million years ago.”
“Four thousand, give or take,” said Mom, “and
Disney World will keep. So will the turtles.”
“Bonnie won’t. Bonnie needs me. She just got
bred. We don’t even know if she’s pregnant yet.”
“We will tomorrow,” Mom said. “You’ve got a
week till you leave. It’s all taken care of. Visas,
everything. Aunt Jessie’s been working on it for
months. It’s her birthday present to you.”
She’d never said a word to me. Not even a hint.
“I hate surprises,” I said. “I hate her.”
“Hate me,” Mom said. “It was my idea.”
“It’s your dream. Mine is to spend the summer
with my friends and my horse. Not baking in a
desert on the other side of the world. There are
terrorists over there. Revolutionaries. Things get
blown up. People get blown up.”
“You will not get blown up,” Mom said.
I pulled myself out of the water. “I’m not going,”
I said.
Mom didn’t say anything. I grabbed a towel off
the pile on the picnic table and rubbed myself
dry, hard enough to make my skin sting, and