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“Zach--” Grace looks at her brother. She looks at the photos spread out in front of them. Then she looks at her brother again and says: “We have to tell mom.”
Zach shakes his head. “Grace--we can’t tell her. They're trying to hurt her.”
“But Zach--”
“No.” Zach sounds firms. “Dad told me that I have to be the man of the house now, that I have to be strong.”
“He told me that too.” Grace says. “He told me to be strong for mom.”
“So we can’t tell her.” Zach looks at the photographs again. Grace looks at them and shudders. They're wrong--her dad wasn't perfect but he didn't do drugs, he didn't break the law. "We at least have to ask dad first." Zach interrupts her thoughts, and she looks at her brother and maybe sees him shudder a bit.
“Zach.” Grace begins. She wants to tell him that it hurts her, too. That she's mad at dad and mad at her mom and its okay to be mad, it's okay to get angry. She can't though--she's opened her mouth but the words just won't come out.
“Why do you think the photos were left here? Huh? Because someone wanted mom to see them!” Zach explodes. He slams his hand against the desk and the pictures move. One falls on the floor. Grace almost picks it up but stops herself. “And if we show them to her then its giving them exact what they want.”
“And if we don’t and someone asks? Maybe she asked for them to be dropped off! Did you ever think of that?” Grace shouts this. She's angry, but she isn't angry at Zach. “Maybe she asked for them to be dropped off because she’s divorcing dad and needs the photos for her lawyer!” Grace takes a deep breath. She's seen her mom do it when she's trying to control her feelings. She hopes it'll maybe work for her, too.
Zach looks at Grace and freezes. “They’re getting divorced?” He asks, his voice shaking. “They wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, well--” Grace mutters. She looks down at the photos and whispers: “He cheated on her. Broke their wedding vows.”
“Do you know something Grace?” Zach looks at her and his eyes are wide and Grace is maybe a little scared. Just a tiny bit. “Did you see something? Did mom say something?”
Grace shakes her head. “No--just--he cheated on her, Zach. These are photographs of him CHEATING on her.” Grace doesn’t say the other thought that’s zooming through her head, even though she wants to shout it. She doesn't want to believe that her dad did DRUGS.
“I think they’re fake.” Zach says suddenly. His eyes are on the photographs again and Grace is glad--she doesn't want to see his face, see if he's lying. “The photos,”.
“Yeah?” Grace asks. “Good, tell mom.”
“No.” Zach says. “I have to be strong for her--” He looks at Grace and shifts a bit. “We have to be strong for her.”
And Grace thinks about it. She thinks about being strong for her mom and being strong for Zach and its kind of like the bullies--if they didn't have anything nice to say then she shouldn't listen. The photos weren't saying anything nice, they were mean and they hurt her and Grace wondered how much they'd hurt her mom and then she decides.
“Okay, Zach.” Grace agrees. “Just--hide them. Grandma likes to clean.”
