136 deadtime

i had also assured jonas that if it turned out he preferred to stay with his cousins rather than come into the city , that would be fine . i was in new york in case jona wantedd contact . i ncase he needed me . it was up to him decide if he wanted to take advantage of he safety valve i was providing - it wasn't a requirement .
i didn't expect him to cncel our visits . adrienne had once told me that her niece and nephew were
"dweebs" . she'd alloweed at the time - in a moment of familial rationalization - that she didn't consider it the kids ' fault they were dweebs."any dweebness was the nature/nurture responsibility of her dweeby brother , their  father .
jonas and i agreed on a code word he could use if he didn't feel free to tell me the truth about what was going on in white plains . the code wordhe picked was " callie." callie was the name the breeders had given the havanese puppy that jonas 's mother had bought for him before she died . all he had to do to alert me that he was under some kind of pressure from his aunt or uncle was to use her original names , callie , in a conversation .
he didn't mention callie while we talked about his trip to the beach . what he said was ." i really want to go to the shore . they have a boogie board ."
he sounded excited . " sounds great , jonas . should be fun . what beach ?"
" idon't know ."
"is it close ? within driving distance ?"
"i don't know ."
okay ." is kim around ? i want to get some details - wait - jonas ?"
"what ?"
 "jonas , do you know how to swim ?"
he klaughed . it was a deep . belly laugh . music . i could hear his mother 's wit echoing from within him . " i'll race you sometime ," he said .
" you're on ."