The Bluenose Limit by John Steakley

Author:John Steakley [Steakley, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1981-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It came on me out of nowhere, halfway through the second year — just when I had thought the worst was past me.

I was still down, of course. Going everyday to a factory run for the Blues by their machines that had always before been run by Man.

By men. By me.

But I did it. Six days a week I did it. I cleaned up after the Blue machines and if I felt we were all like cattle sometimes, I just gritted my teeth and told myself to hang in there, that I would get used to it.

By halfway through the second year, I thought I had. Not happy. But day to day and head down and holding on.

Saturday night. Got Cleaned. Got all my credits. It was a chilly beautiful night and I put on my very best clothes. Went down my sidewalk and into the door of the pharmacy on the corner I had always passed before. Three boxes of sleeping pills — half my credits.

It was windy when I got back outside. I went into the alley to die warm.

Paulie was there. He was wrapped in a brown army blanket and an old shirt. His “bed” was a pile of old magazines wadded up in the center of an old tire. He was about one. He was smiling. A note pinned to the blanket said, “This is my dear little Da…” before I stopped reading.

I picked him up and walked away, leaving the pills, the blanket, and the note. It started raining on the way home, so I held him inside my shirt, against my skin, all the way.

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.