You Lost Us In The Test novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Fallout

By Monday the deputy mayor had a statement.

He read it on the steps of the City-County Building with his wife beside him in a camel coat.

"What you heard was a private family joke," he said. "Taken out of context by a young woman going through a difficult time."

A reporter shouted, "What context makes chili for a pregnant woman a joke?"

He didn't answer that one.

By Tuesday two council members wanted to know why a kitchen-equipment start-up with no track record had been fast-tracked for a four-hundred-thousand-dollar city contract.

By Wednesday the city had pulled it.

"Under review," the press release said.

Nobody at work said anything to me about the video.

They just did things.

Somebody left a sleeve of saltines on my keyboard every morning.

The receptionist put a printed sign on the front desk: "NO PRESS. NO YOUTUBERS. NO EXCEPTIONS."

On Thursday morning the receptionist called up to the lab.

"Deanna, your mom's here. And a young man. She says it's urgent."

"Tell her I'm working."

A pause. A voice behind her, loud.

"I'm not leaving until I see my daughter!"

The receptionist came back on, quieter.

"She's sitting down on the floor."

I took my gloves off.

The lobby at Hartwell's Pittsburgh lab was two stories of glass with a big steel staircase in the middle. It was nearly lunch.

My mother was sitting in the middle of the lobby floor in her lavender twinset, her purse in her lap.

Brody stood beside her in his Pirates hoodie with his hands in the pocket.

My mother saw me and got to her feet.

"There she is," she announced. "There's my daughter."

"Mom. Get up. You're at my job."

"You took my job," Brody said.

It came out cracked.

"Brody's company is finished," my mother said. "His investors called this morning. They want their money back. Do you know what that's like for a boy?"

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