The Echoes Beneath by J. M. Ammoun

Author:J. M. Ammoun [Ammoun, J. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

ARVIN’S FEES

“I bet it’s a mile high.”

“A mile? No way! It’s a mile from my house to the market. There’s no way it’s that high.”

The rusted hood of the broken-down school bus scraped at the seat of Arvin’s jeans as he gazed up at the darkened metal platform. Miron lay next to him on the smooth, unblemished side, shifting his weight and adjusting his footing to avoid slipping off the edge, something Arvin had experienced on his first go-around after scaling the stalled eyesore. Only he’d fallen from the roof, learning quickly that the rust stains on his clothes were far better than a broken arm.

“Why is it called the Mantle?” asked Miron as he struggled to find a perfect balance.

“I dunno. Probably because it has important things on it. My mom puts my brother’s trophies and pictures on our mantle.”

“We don’t have a mantle… We have a shelf, though. That’s where our pictures are.”

“A shelf is not a mantle,” Arvin responded derisively.

Miron was a few years younger but lived in the apartment complex just down the street from Arvin’s adopted home. With most of his time spent on schooling, runs, and visits to the shelter, Arvin’s friendship with Miron was more out of convenience than shared interests. He was a nice enough kid but often annoying with his childish understandings of the world.

“What do you think is on it?” Miron asked.

“People. Businesses. It’s like down here, but they get to see the stars.”

“Really? I wouldn’t want to live up there. What if you fell off?”

“You can’t fall off.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do,” said Arvin.

Miron paused a second before turning to Arvin. “So, you’d want to live there?”

“Hell, yeah. The stars. The sunsets.”

“You’ve seen the stars a bunch,” said Miron.

Arvin slid from the hood. “Only on runs. But even still, I haven’t ever seen a sunset.” He reached down and dusted the orange stains from his pants.

Miron stumbled after him less gracefully, thudding to the ground and kicking up a plume of dirt before climbing back to his feet and adjusting his thick glasses. “Do you think the people up there are important?”

“I dunno.”

“If a mantle is where they put important things, wouldn’t important people live there?”

“I guess.”

Arvin curled back the scrapyard fence, and the boys slipped through to the other side. Across the street sat an abandoned brick building, half-collapsed with boarded-up windows and scrawls of graffiti praising the great Jericho Sands. Arvin had seen it sit dormant for years but only recently noticed the yellow caution tape around its perimeter.

“Whoa!” said Miron. “Does that mean they’re going to blow that up?”

“I dunno.”

“Man, I would love to see that. Watching the bricks go everywhere. It would be awesome.”

Arvin had to admit, he’d love to see it live as well. He had once watched a demolition on TV, and unlike what Miron was picturing, the bricks didn’t go anywhere but down, appearing as if the building had collapsed on itself.

“I can ask my brother,” Arvin said.

“Really? He does that stuff?”

“Well…no.

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