Never Too Far by Christopher Thomas

Author:Christopher, Thomas [Christopher, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kalmaha Press
Published: 2012-05-10T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

When they got in the small room, Joe flipped the switch on the wall and the light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickered on and shone with a weak light.

“That’s a light bulb,” he said.

“I know,” Mary said.

Joe assumed she’d never seen one, but apparently he was wrong. Or maybe she wanted to appear worldly and that’s why she didn’t even glance at the light bulb. She acted like she’d seen electric light a hundred times before. Well, Joe thought, if that didn’t impress her then surely she’d be impressed by the magic of television. As it turned out, he was wrong about that too.

Of all the things he was curious to see in the city, like helicrafts for one, he was most intrigued by television. Joe had heard about it from Frank, but Joe had never seen one, at least not one that worked. His excitement made the fear he felt earlier in the stable seem to vanish.

“This is a television,” he said. “I know you haven’t seen one of those. You’re going to be amazed.”

He stood in front of the dresser where a small television sat. It was framed in wood with strips of embroidered brass on the outer corners. When he turned the television on, he was disappointed at first. The picture was a blizzard of black and white dots and only static came out of the speaker. He turned the channel several times until there was finally a picture. It seemed to pop out at him.

“Aha, look at that!”

He stepped back to get a better view. A woman with bright red lipstick stared at Joe. The view panned down her black dress and then showed an exposed white leg gleaming all the way to the floor. He didn’t know what he had anticipated, but it wasn’t that. On the next channel, a longhaired man in animal skins was racing a vehicle through a desert and fighting with another vehicle racing alongside him.

“Is this wild or what?” Joe said.

When he looked at Mary she had her head down.

“You aren’t even looking.”

The images were incredible. Joe could’ve sat and watched them some more. But Mary didn’t seem to be the least bit interested. She was a strange girl. How could she not even look? Maybe she was afraid and that was why. He decided to show her the bathroom. He thought she might want to take a bath and relax. Back home, Mom often made a bath for her in the cracked porcelain tub. Frank and Dad weren’t happy about it because they said it was a waste of water, but Mom said, “That girl needs pampering, and that’s all that’s to it.” So Joe thought a bath might make her feel more at home.

The tile on the bathroom floor was chipped and cracked. Black mold ran along the seams. The inside of the toilet bowl was covered in a rusty-brown color. Next to the tiny sink was a curtain. When Joe pulled it open, it revealed a narrow tub-shower with a corroded nozzle and a rusty drain.

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