River on Fire by Scott Pratt

Author:Scott Pratt [Pratt, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phoenix Flying, Inc.
Published: 2013-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

“Here’s what you’re gonna do, orphan,” he said. “You’re gonna stay as far away from my little girl as you possibly can. You won’t talk to her. You won’t even look at her. If she comes into a room and you’re there, you’re gonna leave. If you see her coming down the sidewalk toward you, you’re gonna turn around and run in the other direction. If you don’t, this is what I’m gonna do. I’ll wait for you. It might take me a little while, but I’ll get you. And when I do, I’ll kill you with my bare hands. Then I’ll wrap you in chains, put you on my boat, haul you fifty miles out on the lake and dump your dead body over the side. And you know what? Nobody’ll care. You’re an orphan, an outcast, a stray. My little girl is special, and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand by and let her get mixed up with a piece of no-good trash like you. So I’m gonna ask you one more time. Do you understand?”

I was looking past him, trying not to listen, but I heard what he was saying. I heard every word.

“When I take my hand off your mouth, all I want to hear is one word. And that word better be yes. Do you understand?”

He lifted his hand from my mouth. My chest was burning and I was short of breath, but I whispered the word he wanted to hear.

The next thing I knew he was gone, and I was left lying there under that beautiful sky, feeling empty and very much alone. I got up after a few minutes and walked back to the apple tree where Rodney was still sitting. He didn’t even ask who the man was. I didn’t say a word about it, and I guess nobody else really noticed anything. We went back out into the patch and picked blueberries until around five and then walked back to the orphanage. Mr. Moncier was working on the truck outside the barn.

“Hey Randall!” he hollered as we skirted the edge of the pond. “C’mon over here a minute!”

I walked over to the barn while Rodney and the other guys went on up to the house. Mr. Moncier was pouring oil from a can into the truck’s motor.

“Del Visser was here today around lunchtime,” Mr. Moncier said. “He was looking for you. Said he needed to talk to you for a minute. I told him where you were. Did he find you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’d he want?”

“Nothing, really.”

“He came all the way out here and then went over there looking for you and he didn’t want anything?”

“No, sir. Not really.”

“Well, what’d he say? Was it about the girl?”

“I guess so.”

Mr. Moncier finished pouring the oil, straightened up, and started wiping his hands with a dirty rag.

“What’s the matter with you?” he said. “Stop mumbling like your mouth is full of mush. I asked you what he said.”

“I don’t remember exactly. He sort of told me to stay away from her.

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.