She returned to the kitchen where they had been eating. Her father followed her, leaving the door open behind him so they could keep an eye on Mikey’s tantrum from afar. He was pretty inventive at finding new ways to express his displeasure and his general frustration at the world. They had learned the hard way that it was better to keep him in sight whenever possible.
As soon as they were back in the kitchen, the screaming stopped.
She and her parents ate their slices of birthday cake in silence, keeping half an eye on Mikey who was now stomping up and down the yard and making noises to himself.
When they had finished, her mom got up to clear away the plates. Caitlin got up to help, too.
Her mom stopped her. “It’s your birthday, honey. Your dad and I can take care of the dishes. You sit and relax.”
While her parents clattered in the kitchen, Caitlin sat back on the couch in the living room and flicked on the television to watch the news.
After a few minutes, Mikey came in and sat next to her on the couch. “Lin,” he said, as he sat next to her. Not touching her, but closer than he usually got to anyone.
His name for her, Lin, was one of his very few words. She knew he was trying in his own way to say sorry.
She reached out and bumped fists with him. “It’s okay, Mikey.” He might throw an impressive tantrum, but the rest of the time he was very sweet-natured and he never held a grudge.
He leaned back quietly on the couch, rocking gently side to side, until all of a sudden he sat upright and stared intently at the screen.
She had withdrawn into her own private thoughts, but this unusual behavior snapped her out of it, and she came back to reality with a start.
The television screen was showing forest fires. Big old forest fires in California, as there were every year. Video of huge flames, billowing smoke, and trees going up like roman candles.
Mikey sat next to her on the couch with his mouth open, barely breathing, utterly transfixed by the sight of the fires.
He stared fixedly at the screen, her birthday candle still clenched tightly in his fist, and didn’t lean back until the news segment of the forest fires was over. Even then, he kept staring at the screen for some minutes afterwards, hoping it would come back.
Caitlin felt a prickle of worry start in the back of her neck and work its way all down her spine. Oh no. Mikey’s behavior was not a good sign. In fact, it was a very very bad sign indeed.
First the candles on the birthday cake and the lighter, and then the forest fire on television.
Mikey was prone to getting sudden bursts of enthusiasm. Once for a whole month he would eat nothing but bread and butter and carrots. They tried to tempt him with all his previous favorites, but he wouldn’t even touch banana chocolate chip ice-cream. His obsession with Dora the Explorer had lasted for several painful years. And he still wanted to listen to a particular K-pop band endlessly on loop on his headphones. Nothing else, not even other K-pop bands that she thought were totally indistinguishable from his chosen one, would do.
This fascination with fire was something new. And potentially a whole lot more dangerous than an over-exposure to Dora the Explorer or eating nothing but carrots for a month.
Caitlin was pretty sure that this was a year that her birthday wish was not going to come true.
Headlong (Quinn Brothers Book 2) Page 16
