Scars on the Face of God by Chris Bauer

Author:Chris Bauer [Bauer, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn River Publishing
Published: 2019-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

We were both toweled off and stepping into extra coveralls I kept in the truck for emergencies. So I asked Father a second time, “How did you know where to look for me?”

This section of the old sewers was so close to the Conrail tracks that, when they built the row homes that replaced the shanties, this strip had been left empty. At two in the morning, the only things moving out here were the rats and the stray cats that chased them. Still, much as everyone around town recognized my old Willys truck, for Father to have found me out here, he would have first had to know I was out this late, and second, the general vicinity to look.

“You could say I got a phone call,” he told me, snapping the fasteners on the front of his dry coveralls, “but the truth is I was asleep, so I only dreamt there was a call, from a boy who sounded a lot like your young friend Leo. ‘Wump needs help, near the train tracks’ is what I heard, which startled me awake.” Father dropped his muck-stained clothes inside the truck’s tailgate. “So I jogged alongside the tracks until I saw your truck.”

Father leaned over to look into the open manhole. I did likewise, saw nothing but darkness, but we could still hear the rumble of running sewer water. I was for sure certain he hadn’t heard from no talking dead babies, else it would have come out with his dream right then and there. A few nudges from my soggy work boot and the manhole cover clanged shut, snug inside its iron ring.

“You think maybe Leo is, ah, you know, tele-whatchamacallit, like them Indian swamis?”

“Telepathic?”

“Yeah.”

“I think he’s an especially sensitive kid, Wump. And I think you and he have a very special bond. Beyond that, only heaven knows.”

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.