Page 45 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Where the Dream Ends

You would think that after one or two incidents like that,
they would have locked the front door; but they didn’t, and
the dog finally died of old age when she was fifteen. Harry was
only eight at the time and happened to be at home when she
expired. The ASPCA wouldn’t come to take the body away, so
when the garbage truck came by, Harry’s mother went outside
to talk to the driver. Finally, one of the men came into the
house and took the body wrapped up in a sheet. Harry saw
them toss her into the garbage truck. For weeks afterward,
Harry thought the lump in his throat was cancer.

The apartment would have been tiny for two. As it was,
there were at least five living there at any one time. Harry slept
in his parents’ bedroom until he was thirteen. Often, when
he was younger, he would wake up in the middle of the night
and hear strange sounds that scared him, until eventually he
wasn’t scared, just aroused. His older sister and brother slept
on convertible beds in the living room, except for a short time
when his parents thought it might be better if they slept in the
living room and Harry shared the bedroom with his brother
and sister who got the big double bed.

There was much too much furniture for a tiny apartment.
On weekends, Harry liked to go bike riding, but in order to
get his bike outside, he had to carry it from the bedroom,
through the living room, and over the heads of his sister and
brother, who usually slept until noon. On Sunday mornings
Harry’s grandfather came into the apartment while everyone
was sleeping and waited patiently at the kitchen until the fam-
ily awoke. Harry was always the first to see him and collect his
weekly allowance: 25 cents and a pack of Charms candies.

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