That Summer

The Thorn Birds

A few days had passed since the incident with Michael and his father, since then he has been staying with my family and I. Each day he was getting better and better which became a huge relief to me, though he had some scars here and there, overall the swelling and bruising had gone away. It was about mid to late afternoon when Michael came down the stairs from his room.

"Michael? Is that you?" I rhetorically inquired. A few moments later, Michael had come into the kitchen with a sleepy look on his face.

"Hey." His voice huskily answered.

"Hey there sleepyhead, you were sleeping pretty good when I went to check on you, so I didn't bother to wake you up. Are you hungry at all?" I questioned as I handed him some orange juice.

"A bit." He replied while rubbing his eyes.

"What would you like?" I asked.

"I'll just have some cereal if that isn't too much trouble." I giggled as I shook my head.

"Of course not. What cereal are you interested in? We have Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, and Cocoa Pebbles." I scanned through the cabinet before turning to Michael for his decision.

"Cocoa Pebbles are fine." He decided. I pulled down the box and poured quite a few into a bowl along with some milk.

"Here you go!" I handed him a bowl and sat down in the chair next to him.

"Thank you." He replies with a smile. I nodded my head as he began to eat.

"Have you talked to any of your family members since the other day?" I curiously asked.

"I haven't contacted any of them, but that was only to give them time to cool off. I should probably call my mother though, she's probably worried and has lost her mind by now." He chuckled slightly.

"Well, I'll let you talk to her, and don't be afraid to help yourself to anything you'd like. Mi casa es su casa." My lack of knowledge with Spanish caused a smile to emerge onto his face.

"Girl, you're too much." Michael teased. I playfully slapped his shoulder as I exited the kitchen and made my way out to the porch where my Aunt was reading a magazine.

"Hey honey, is Michael up yet?" She asked as she set her magazine down on the coffee table.

"Yeah, he's up. I left him alone to call his mother." I sat down and sighed heavily.

"I can tell something's off, what's on your mind." She gave my thigh a comforting rub.

"It's just...Michael has been through a lot these past few days, and I guess I'm just hesitant about letting him go back to his monster of a father." I poured out my feelings towards Michael and everything he will soon have to return to.

"Anna, Michael is a strong young man and you truly care for him. But Michael also has a family who loves him, and I guarantee that his father has changed or will change, he loves Michael but has a difficult time expressing it in a way most people do. Is it right that he abuses his children? Absolutely not. Is it right to give him a second chance at making things right? Of course. Everyone deserves a second chance and Michael's father deserves at least that much. We aren't the ones who can judge him on the things he's done, we leave that for God to handle. We support Michael with everything he does and we'll always be here for him." She explained. As much as I want to go against her opinion, I wouldn't have anything to go against since she is right about everything. I huffed in response and nodded my head.

"I guess you're right. I'm just worried that's all." I twiddled with my thumbs to distract myself from Aunt May's stare.

"As you should be, experiencing a traumatic thing like that especially for a boy his age can be worrisome, but he always has somewhere to turn to in a time of need. Remember, if it's one thing our family is good at, it's that we always have an open door to those who need it the most." She said with a smile, which I returned gladly. A few minutes had passed by until Michael joined us on the deck.

"What did your mother say?" I asked as I slid over on the sun chair for him to sit on.

"She was happy to hear from me and was grateful that you all took me in a took care of me and provided me with food, clothes, and a roof. Joseph was put into counseling, but I doubt that solved anything, but this will be my last night here." His face showed no emotion which made me understand that he was worried.

"Are you sure? You're welcome to stay longer if you need to." My Aunt kindly suggested.

"No ma'am, you and your family have been awfully kind. It will be best for me to go ahead and leave tomorrow, it'll give me some time to adjust." He gave a toothless smile which automatically gave away the uncomfortable state he had been hiding.

"Alright, well I'm going to go get dinner started." She said as she began to leave us. A cool breeze began to blow as we sat in silence.

"Are you ready to go back tomorrow?" I spoke up.

"I don't know, maybe? I mean, I'm ready to see my mother, brothers, and sisters, I just don't know if I'm ready to face Joseph and be constantly reminded of the pure hell he puts me through." He buried his head in his hands. I felt bad for him, he has to live a life no one wants to has. He has to go through all of this by himself and it tears me apart to see such a beautiful soul have to live in darkness.

"It's all going to be okay Michael. Remember, I'll always be here for you." I then thought back to how limited my time was here, I sighed as I wrapped my arms around Michael and pulled him into me. It was calming to be in his arms, he must've felt the same since his once tense muscles had relaxed.

...

After dinner that night, I decided to go and prepare myself for bed. I wasn't too thrilled with the next day for Michael would soon be home. I hadn't realized that I had been sitting on my bed, staring into nothingness for what seemed like forever. Once I cleared my head, I made my way towards the room Michael was staying in. His light was still on which notified me that he was still up. I opened the door to see him reading a book.

"What are you reading." I inquired.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's pretty interesting." He commented as he flipped a page.

"Is there a title? Maybe on the front or spine?" I suggested. Michael turned the book over to reveal the title.

"It's called The Thorn Birds." He said as he went back to the page he was on.

"Do you mind if I read with you?" I shyly asked.

"No, of course not!" He slid over some to make room for me. His arm draped around me as he began to read the story aloud. As he read, the sound of his voice caused the story to unfold before my eyes. Unfortunately, sleep wanted to interrupt the story, my eyes slowly began to droop as Michael continued reading on. The last thing I heard was Michael recalling a line from the book, "For pain is bought at the cost of great pain...or so the legend says."