Killing Shade (Jonathan Shade Book 15) by Gary Jonas

Author:Gary Jonas [Jonas, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Denton & White
Published: 2024-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

16

The next day, I was still sore, but it was tolerable. Amadi and Omolara cooked breakfast, and while I wasn’t a fan of grits, I ate them anyway. The eggs and toast were quite good. The fruit mix of apples, oranges, bananas, and strawberries was also delicious.

Omolara went out to run errands, so Amadi had me join him in the office after breakfast.

“You need to get back to 2023,” he said. “And you don’t want to age.”

“I’m not worried about aging,” I said. I sat in a wooden chair by his desk and rubbed my sore leg muscles.

“Really?”

“I mean, keep an eye on me, but I’ve been told that because I’m not supposed to exist, I’m an artifact in time or something. As such, I don’t age. They could be lying to me, of course. So if you see me getting gray hair, wake my ass up.”

He smiled. “The rest of you, too.”

“That goes without saying.”

He nodded. “I’d need to put you into a deep hibernation. The problem is that I would normally use magic to accomplish that. So how do I get you to sleep for years on end without killing you?”

“We don’t have functional cryogenics in my time, so the Buck Rogers thing won’t work.”

“I do not understand.”

“Buck Rogers,” I said. “Come on, Amadi. I know you don’t read science fiction magazines, but I saw it in the newspaper when I was in New York. It’s a comic strip right now.”

“I do not read comic strips.”

“I should have known. You don’t pay attention to pop culture in my time either.”

“Perhaps you can make yourself useful,” he said. “Go out and get some groceries. Do you have money?”

“I do.”

“Yes, you go get groceries and bring them here.”

“Where’s the grocery store?”

“I normally let Omo handle grocery shopping. Call a taxi. I have a telephone in the kitchen. You can shop in the white part of town. I suspect you’ll be able to get better quality groceries there.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I grimaced as I got to my feet. Then I walked into the kitchen. The phone looked weird to me. But I’d seen these old-style phones in movies and TV shows, so I lifted the ear piece.

Two women were talking.

It was a party line.

Anyone on the party line could listen in.

I hung up and waited a few minutes, then checked again.

The women were still talking.

Third time was the charm, and when I lifted the receiver, the women weren’t there. A moment later, an operator said, “Number, please?”

“I need a taxi.”

“Address?”

“Fortunately, I’d noted the house number, so I gave it to her.”

“Let me see which service is closest. Okay, here we go. Please hold.”

I heard some clicks. Then a ringing sound.

From there it was easy. I ordered a taxi, and they sent one out to pick me up.

No one tried to kill me when I went into the grocery store, or when I returned to the cab. I’d paid the guy to wait for me, and he did. I was surprised that the store was a Piggly Wiggly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.