The Man Who Fell from the Sky by Coel Margaret

Author:Coel, Margaret [Coel, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-08-13T07:00:00+00:00

18

A CIRCLE OF light fell over the stacks of papers, notebooks, and laptop that littered the surface of the desk. At the edge of light stood the chair Father John kept for parishioners who tracked him to the residence. The notes of “Vesti la giubba” rose and fell against the nighttime creaks and groans of the old house. The bishop had gone upstairs to bed an hour ago. Walks-On snoring at his feet, twitching in a dream. A good time, the last, quiet minutes of the day.

Father John tried to ignore the tiredness running through him. It had been a busy day, driving to the nursing home and the film set, having lunch at the senior center with some of the elders, visiting the sick, the dying, at the hospital in Riverton, driving, driving. Walks-On had either trailed along on the visits or slept in the pickup under a shady tree.

Following him through the day were thoughts of the man who had once lived in the same area—ridden a horse along the trails that were now asphalt roads, and who might have returned, when everyone thought he was dead. Risen from the dead. He smiled. It had happened only once.

Father John turned the desk lamp toward the bookcases and ran his finger over the spines of Western history books until he found what he was looking for. Outlaws and Other Legends. A clear imprint outlined by dust clung to the shelf when he removed the book. It must have weighed two pounds; the cover, a tooled, navy blue leather, the title printed in gold. He ran his fingers over the cover a moment, then opened the book carefully. A delicate thing, like film that might disintegrate in his hands. The end sheets were cream-colored, stamped with tiny light blue half circles. He thumbed through the heavy, ragged-edged pages: desperate, narrow-eyed men looked out from sepia-toned photographs. Then he turned to the table of contents. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid appeared halfway down the list. He turned to page 70.

The photograph of Butch Cassidy smiling out at the world took up the top half of the page, light-colored hair slicked back from an open, friendly face, eyes deep set, amused yet watchful, full cheeks and square jaw. In his thirties, hard-driven, experienced. The caption read: Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, about 1899.

On the lower half of the page was the photo of another man, smaller and slimmer, also in his thirties, but with black hair and dark complexion and the wary eyes of a man who had seen and absorbed too much. Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, the caption read, known as the Sundance Kid, about 1904.

He turned the page and found a photo of five men in suits and ties, black fedoras, and polished shoes, a successful bunch of merchants or bankers, perhaps, photographed at a wedding. Except the caption identified the men as members of the Wild Bunch. Butch Cassidy and Sundance were seated in front, on either side of Ben Kilpatrick.

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.