He finally relented, pulling her into a hug. They lay there together on the floor, surrounded by scattered blocks and the fallen Hot Wheels car. Piper’s head rested on his chest, rising and falling with his breath.
“Only mostly dead,” he replied, cracking one eye open. “There’s a cure, you know.” piper perri fall down dad
Piper nodded solemnly. She reached for the final block—the crown jewel, a yellow cylinder that she called “The Golden Howitzer.” She held her breath. The universe held its breath. She extended her arm, leaned forward, and… He finally relented, pulling her into a hug
“Oh, the humanity!” he boomed, clutching his chest. “I have been struck down! The shock! The sheer, unmitigated tragedy of the falling tower has felled me!” “Only mostly dead,” he replied, cracking one eye open
Piper sat in the ruins of her civilization. Her lower lip began to tremble. Her big brown eyes welled up with genuine, world-ending tears. This was not a simple fall. This was a betrayal by physics, by her own feet, by that stupid Hot Wheels car. The wail was coming—the kind of wail that rattles windows and summons mothers from three rooms away.
“Did it hurt?” she asked quietly, her finger tracing the seam of his flannel shirt. “When you fell?”
He lay sprawled on his back on the carpet, one leg bent awkwardly, his glasses askew, arms spread out like he was making a snow angel in the beige fibers. He let out a groan of exaggerated, Shakespearean suffering.