Rex Zero, King of Nothing by Tim Wynne-Jones

Author:Tim Wynne-Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV016160
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
Published: 2007-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

14

The Woman in Black

I GO OUT FOR A WALK in the not quite winter night. There’s so much going on, no one will notice I’m missing as long as I’m back by bedtime. I need to clear my head. I need to think.

I pause by the mailbox at the corner of Clemow and Bank with the letter to Miss Garr in my hand. I stand there so long I start to shiver. I should probably have checked it over one more time. But even if I found a mistake, I wouldn’t want to type it again so what’s the point. I’m not sure I want to send it but I kind of have to now. I promised Kathy.

I hesitate one long, last time.

Then I quickly push it through the letter hole and walk away. There! I shove my hands in my pockets and bury my chin in my scarf.

Dr. Love, out for a midnight stroll.

I take a deep breath and the frosty air tickles the back of my throat. I wish there was a channel straight from my mouth to my brain so that the wind could get in there and blow away all the extra thoughts I seem to be having lately. My brain feels like my bedroom. A lot of things are on shelves or in boxes or cupboards or hanging up in the closet or in the drawers under my bed. I know where to find them. But there is this other stuff – comics, football cards, dirty laundry, schoolwork, the busted horn from my bike – lying around, so thick I feel as if it’s going to trip me up. I don’t even recognize some of it. I feel the same way about my brain. Who’s been piling things up there? Heck, I don’t need the wind – I need a shovel!

Will my sister marry Mr. Odsburg? It seems impossible and yet...

Could Dr. Arnold fall in love with Miss Garr?

Does Mein Liebchen really mean My Darling?

I end up turning on to Quigley Street. I’m not sure why. I hardly know why I do anything these days. I hope I don’t have some tragic mental disease.

As I make my way through the puddles of streetlight towards the dead end, I’m not sure what I’m hoping for. Maybe I’ll get to number twenty-nine and Natasha will be standing at the front door looking out at the night just like before.

This time I won’t hide. I’ll walk right up to her.

“Who are you?” she’ll ask.

“People call me Rex Zero.”

Then I’ll hand her the little black book.

She’ll gasp. “I’ve been looking everywhere for this,” she’ll say. “Thank you so much, Rex Zero. Here’s a dollar.”

I shake this thought from my head like a wet dog shaking off water. I don’t want money! And she wouldn’t say she’s been looking everywhere for the book because it isn’t hers. Whoever the book belongs to wrote her name down wrong – Nate instead of Natasha.

As I get nearer to twenty-nine, I notice a truck parked out front.

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.