The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

Author:Nicholas Wolff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Charlie was in his room, looking at his Captain America book. He’d heard the Jeopardy! music from the living room, so he knew Mrs. Finlay was in there watching it. She had trouble with the questions, but she loved Alex Trebek, so she never missed a show.

He turned a page. This was The Courageous Captain America, his official favorite book. He turned back to the first page and lingered over the words. America had always been the land of opportunity. People came from all over—

“Cleopatra,” Mrs. Finlay barked suddenly.

Charlie looked up.

“No, I’m sorry, the answer is,” Alex Trebek said, “ ‘Who was Queen Elizabeth the Second?’ ”

Mrs. Finlay made a disgusted sound.

A train hooted in the distance. Charlie turned to the window. Set low in the wall, it looked out on a big backyard filled with trees, now throwing long shadows in the evening light. Beyond the trees, there were the playing fields of Bishop Carroll. In seven years, he’d be out there in the spring, playing lacrosse. There was no talking in lacrosse, that he’d seen anyway, and it was invented by the Indians, and he liked Indians.

Charlie picked up his Captain America book and walked across the worn carpet, stiff-legged. Waiting for him, propped against an old Nike box, was Buzz Lightyear, the king of Planet Earth of the future.

Charlie.

The voice had come from inside his head, but far away inside it. Charlie looked up, startled. No one had ever talked to him inside his head before. Not even his daddy. Only the Magician, who’d visited twice.

The window shades were pulled all the way up and he could see leaves blowing over the white snow in the backyard. The trees shook their branches in the wind back and forth. Who would be in the backyard? The Kittinger boys next door had stopped sneaking over to throw rocks at his window, ever since his father found out what they were doing and went over to have a talk with Mr. Kittinger. He never even saw the boys in their backyard for six months after that.

Charlie?

The voice was closer now. Charlie squinted his eyes, and suddenly his heart skipped a beat. There was something out there, in the back corner of the yard. One of the tree trunks had gotten thicker at the bottom. There was something extra on it. No, standing next to it. Not moving, pretending to be part of the tree trunk.

Charlie scuttled back against the back wall across from the window. The open doorway was three feet away to his left. Should he get Mrs. Finlay to come in here with him? Or should he go out there and sit and watch Jeopardy! with her? Charlie turned and through his doorway saw the circle of light from Mrs. Finlay’s reading lamp on the living room carpet. He could be there in three seconds.

Charlie turned back. The dark shape was gone, but now, four trees closer, he could make out someone standing in the snow. It was a girl.

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.