Gate Walker by Chris Stevenson

Author:Chris Stevenson [Stevenson, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Science Fiction, Adventure, Paranormal
ISBN: 9781616500948
Publisher: Lyrical Press, inc.
Published: 2009-11-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chris Stevenson

117

Avy cocked her head in surprise, and then offered him a chair. They began to chat. He told her that his parents had both passed on, revealing that he had been especially close to them. He said he’d felt lost when they both suffered strokes three years apart. He touched upon his interest in law enforcement, explaining how he never seemed to be able to pass the government or state police exams, but did well enough to qualify for the correctional facility.

Chubby had been “big boned” during his childhood, suffering the barbs of jokes and rejection, in particular when it came to the opposite sex. His teachers were endeared to him because he never disrupted class, shirked his studies, or played hooky. He had never heard the call of the sport’s machine, being neither inclined to join in the physical contact sports nor desirous of bonding with the hardcore jocks. What he had known of life had been restricted to solitary pursuits, sometimes escaping into his own world through comic books, then later novels. But when he spoke of his contact with the inmates he’d met over the years, he expressed joy in having played a part in their rehabilitation. When he spoke of Avalon Labrador, his eyes brightened and his face took on a glow. Of course, Avy had heard much of this before.

“I always knew that Avalon was innocent,” he said. “You can tell about those things when you are around so many different people. It’s easy to spot the grifter folk, the liars, those who don’t respect personal rights. You can tell who is guilty or who might be an accessory. It’s in the eyes, you know—they are the window to the soul. Innocent eyes are unafraid, filled with an inner peace.

Guilty eyes are like...” He pointed to a manikin overhead. “Like that. Dead—uncaring. They always shift like they are running away from you. Now, Avalon, her eyes were always full of questions and easy to read. She had the most calm composure, which was part of her nature, too.”

“She seemed like a sweet, unselfish person,” said Avy.

“Oh, yeah. She always seemed to have enough even when she had nothing. In prison, you apply for all the privileges you can get your hands on because that is your world. If it doesn’t come your way, you take it away from somebody else. It’s a shark pool. But Avalon? She never wanted to put anybody out or asked for anything. Like she wanted to make my job easier! Imagine that. She draws the short straw, but she ends up concerned about what I need. Not for just the first couple of years, either. For fourteen years, she never changed, never lost her dignity. She never put another person through anything like she had to suffer. I think they call that grace under fire.

I’m not sure. But she had loads of it.”

“I didn’t even know her,” Avy said. “From the little I’ve learned, I believe she lived a righteous life.

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