A Trace of Revenge by Lyle Howard

Author:Lyle Howard [Howard, Lyle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-12T22:00:00+00:00

28

Matt Walker sat in the kitchen and stared across the breakfast table at his grandfather. The early morning sun streamed in through the window as the smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. The tiled floor was covered with black scuff marks from his grandfather’s work boots. It would be next Thursday before the maid would be here to clean them away.

It had been two days since Barbara Walker passed peacefully in her sleep, but the old man refused to show any outward signs of grief. The funeral had been a simple grave-side affair with just Matthew and himself, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that his son Franklin was also there, mourning the loss. Twelve years had passed since his murder, but the wounds were forever raw.

After the burial, friends of the family had come and gone from the house, bringing trays of food and sharing their memories of his wife. He would listen and nod cordially, but rarely spoke to any of the well-wishers. The light of his life was gone, and he had locked all the doors and drawn all the windows. There was nothing left but darkness and half his soul—the unworthy half.

Dave Walker sat with an aimless glaze in his eyes. He sipped some coffee but didn’t taste it. The eggs Matt had scrambled for him sat untouched on the plate next to a piece of stiff wheat toast.

Matt reached across the table and touched his grandfather’s hand to comfort him. The old man pulled his hand away as though it had been burned with a hot iron. “Don’t you trace me, boy. Don’t you dare and do it! I don’t want any of that mumbo-jumbo in my house! It might have been okay with your grandmother, but I won’t put up with any of that crap.”

Matt stood up and scraped his grandfather’s uneaten eggs into the sink. He didn’t have to hear to know what his grandfather thought of him. The old man thought he was a freak of nature, and the less contact they had, the better they would get along. His grandson was just someone who ate his hard-earned food and couldn’t keep him company as his wife had. He had never bothered to learn his grandson’s hand talking…that was his wife’s choice. He didn’t have the time to learn all those wild gestures, nor the inclination to. She coddled the boy ever since she discovered what he was capable of. Never did an honest lick of work in his life, always afraid to touch anything. How was the boy supposed to contribute to the family when he could flip out without a moment’s notice? Living with the boy was like having an electric generator hooked up to your stomach. The tension was palpable, and now he had no one to run interference for him. How he missed his soul mate.

Dave Walker was entitled to his feelings, but he never gave Matt the opportunity to help. Matt had traced his grandfather’s life many times before and never tired of it.

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