The Book by M. Clifford

Author:M. Clifford [Clifford, M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Retail, 21st Century, Amazon.com
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2010-03-09T15:00:00+00:00

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021-53020

The opportunity for Holden to reach out to the one person in the world he trusted more than any other arose nearly a week after their decision to start a grass roots movement. The reason it had taken so long was because his best friend had still been avoiding him. Shane Dagget was as good as invisible. He came in to work early. He left late. And with seniority over Holden, if Numbskull had given him the option, Shane always chose to work with someone else. But when four of them were assigned at random to install a full system on a new high-rise in the loop, the moment Holden had been waiting for presented itself. There was nowhere that Shane could run.

The majority of the rain-drenched day was spent on a concrete slab thirty stories in the air. The men of General Fire were stationed near the open, glassless windows and were forced to work under a constant swath of moist air. They slaved in silence. Holden spent each of those grueling hours deciding what he would say to Shane the moment he could get him alone. On occasion, Shane noticed his friend making eye contact and continued to look away, almost consciously keeping thirty feet of empty space between them at all times. For Holden, under the weight of four lengthy, iron pipes, struggling each minute to remain steady on a fourteen-foot ladder, the more confusing pieces started falling into place. There was only one reason he could come up with for why his friend would be acting that way - he had seen the book.

Holden was sure of it. At some point during the night, Shane had opened the duffle bag and seen the illegal, printed book among his things. It was the only explanation.

This reaction wasn’t new. In fact, it was one of Shane’s classic maneuvers. He was in Protection Mode. He focused solely on his work and nothing more. He had probably even stopped following the Blackhawks. When tragedy struck his life, Shane tended to shut down. It wasn’t that he had been depressed or overwrought with grief; it was simply because Shane didn’t have the capacity to figure out what to do next.

Nothing new. It always took Shane longer to figure things out. Twice as long as it took Holden. As teenagers, when they would start a feral, fist-flinging, rolling in the yard argument, Holden would be over it by the end of the day. It took Shane weeks to work through all his emotions. He wasn’t trying to find the last word to set Holden straight and hadn’t even been angry. It was just that his mind was a funnel and it took a while for any issue to circle its way through to the bottom where the drain could allow it a chance to escape. The distance and the disregard made sense. Shane had seen the book and he was contemplating what to do about it.

With this as a real possibility, Holden gained more confidence.

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