“Want some?”
Howard held the bag of chips in front of me and gave it a little shake.
I swallowed and nodded.
“Then bark like a dog. If you sound convincing, I’ll give you some.”
My stomach cramped from hunger.
I closed my eyes and forced out a humiliating little bark.
“Woof.”
“Louder. I didn’t hear you.”
“Woof!”
Howard grinned.
He picked up a chip and held it out to me.
Just as I reached for it, the chip slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor.
His slipper came down on it perfectly, crushing it under his foot.
“Oops. Sorry.”
He tilted his head, still smiling.
“It fell on the floor, but you can still eat it. Dogs like eating things off the floor, don’t they?”
My whole body burned with shame.
I didn’t know where the courage came from. I lunged at him and grabbed the bag of chips from his hands.
Then, like I was starving, I poured the chips into my mouth as fast as I could.
Howard just stood there, smiling sweetly as he let me take them.
Then, in the next second, he burst into tears.
“Mom, Dad, Caleb stole my food!”
Tears clung to his long lashes, making him look pitiful and innocent.
So Mom called me a thief.
Dad slapped me so hard my ears rang.
Even then, I forced myself to swallow the chips in my mouth.
Because I never wanted to feel that hungry again.
In the end, just like every other time, Mom and Dad locked me in the dark storage room.
They didn’t give me breakfast the next morning either.
The next day in gym class, the sun was glaringly bright.
When I collapsed, the back of my head hit the concrete with a dull thud.
I was bleeding before anyone even reacted.
Mrs. Zimmer was still stammering through the lines she’d memorized.
“When I gave birth to you, I planned to switch you with Howard. But I got caught. Mr. and Mrs. Moore took pity on you and still raised you as their younger son…”
Halfway through, she forgot the rest.
Her face turned bright red from embarrassment.
I looked at her and said calmly, “Mom.”
Then I took Mrs. Zimmer’s arm and went home with her.
When Mom saw us, she frowned.
Still, she smiled and said, “Oh? Caleb found his real mother?”
I nodded calmly.
Dad played along too.
“In that case, shouldn’t he move out of our house and go back to his real parents?”
Before I could say anything, Howard eagerly packed my things for me.
He threw my suitcase down the stairs.
“No need to thank me.”
I looked at the suitcase.
“This is all I have?”
“Mm-hmm.” Howard shrugged. “Your clothes and everything else were bought with our family’s money. You didn’t think you could take them with you, did you?”
I opened the suitcase.
The important things were still inside.
So I closed it again.
“I have one more request.”
Howard immediately shouted, “What request? If you’re asking for money, we’re not giving you any.”
“I want my name removed from anything that ties me to this family.”
Mom froze for a second.
She looked at Dad. After he gave a small nod, she went upstairs to get the paperwork.
And just like that, the Moores cut me loose.
When I saw my name on that single, separate document, the first thing I felt wasn’t sadness.
It was relief.
I was about to leave when Howard blocked my way.
“Wait. What about the allowance Mom and Dad gave you? Hand it over.”
I paused and looked at Mom and Dad.
They both avoided my eyes.
Howard urged, “Hurry up. I get two thousand a month. You must have gotten plenty too.”
“Howard.”
My voice was light.
“If Mom and Dad had ever given me an allowance, I wouldn’t have been so hungry that I couldn’t even buy breakfast. I wouldn’t have collapsed in gym class.”
After saying that, I walked around him and headed for the door.
The moment the front door closed behind me, I heard Howard say regretfully, “Aw, why didn’t he get on his knees and beg us? That was boring.”
Mom sounded a little worried.
“Honey, what if Caleb really doesn’t come back?”
Dad flipped through his newspaper and said carelessly, “He will. Once Howard gets tired of playing, we’ll just tell him the truth. After all, would he rather be the housekeeper’s son or the son of a vice president? Even an idiot knows which one to choose.”
How ridiculous.
After tearing me apart so completely, how could they still think I’d stay right where they left me and wait for them?
