Boys Enter the House by David Nelson

Author:David Nelson [Nelson, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

MaryJane circled the city like a lovelorn ghost, and people were starting to trade stories about her.

Her friends in the neighborhood had never actually met Billy, and now they questioned her about his very existence. “Some people called me a liar,” MaryJane said. “That I was just looking for attention.…”

At work, too, the disappearance of Billy distracted her during her days. After she filed a missing person report, the police came to see her and discuss any details about Billy’s life that could lead to his whereabouts. The disruptions to the work environment created friction between MaryJane and her coworkers, including her managers.

But police were no closer to finding Billy. In fact, it was MaryJane who put in more investigative work, spending day after day looking for him. The original missing person report by the police amounted to little more than a list of acquaintances, sparse details spread out over four pages. But without answers, and now eighteen years old, MaryJane knew she had to keep moving with her life, even if Billy continued to line her memories.

MaryJane eventually began a relationship with Jerry, an older friend from the neighborhood who’d helped her after her abandoned trip to California. He’d been one of the few to believe her story about Billy and his disappearance. Although MaryJane kept the relationship mostly casual in case Billy did show up again, the two of them began to discuss getting away from the talking heads of the neighborhood.

Not long after, Jerry’s employer offered him a job out in California—of all places—where they’d also arrange for a house for him and MaryJane to live in. She’d once thought of California as the place she’d find Billy, maybe spotting him there amid the palm trees and or along the beaches where the Pacific broke fast against the sand. Now she looked to California as a place for her own escape, a haven where she could move on with her life. She knew Chicago held the answers to Billy’s absence, but she also knew she could not wait forever.

The opportunity seemed far too good to pass up, and so she and Jerry packed up and left for California.

Along one of her journeys west, MaryJane saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. They got out of the car to look around, walking to the lip of a rock ledge, where she laid down and gazed out. Someone snapped a photo. Set against the red cliffs, MaryJane appears small. In her smallness, she looks straight out into the vastness of something almost incomprehensible. She seems unafraid of the chasm capable of swallowing her whole at any time. For her youth, her smallness, she is also fearless.

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.