When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

Author:Charles Martin [Martin, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781595540546
Google: 4J1rhtdBuXwC
Amazon: B000VHVJHK
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2006-03-07T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 33

riday night came and found me famished, but I had resigned myself to a microwave dinner. Apparently, Charlie had not. At 5:30 p.m. he appeared on his dock, dressed to the nines.

"Hey, Quiet-Boy! Boy-Who-Won't-Answer-His-Phone! Boy-WhoDon't-Need-to-Be-Building-Boats! Get your butt over here and pick me up. It's dinnertime."

I locked my office, where I had spent most of the day, grabbed my keys, and drove the dirt road that circled the little finger of the lake around to Charlie's front door. He stood there with Georgia, tapping his foot. He climbed in, told Georgia to "Kennel!" at his feet, and with a smile on his face said, "Go that way," which was opposite The Well.

"Where we going?"

"To pick up some friends of mine. I'm taking all of us to dinner."

I pulled over and put the stick in park, then turned to Charlie and raised my eyebrows.

He looked at me and said, "Yeah, doctors don't really like being told what to do, but you're not my doctor. Besides, if we're going on a little trip tomorrow with these people, I just thought I ought to get better acquainted with them."

We rolled down into the drive where Cindy and Annie sat waiting, looking as if it were the first time anyone had invited them out to eat in their entire lives. Their smiles were worth the price of ten dinners.

I walked around and opened Charlie's door. "Cindy, Annie, you met my brother-in-law, Charlie, the other day. This is his girlfriend, Georgia."

They laughed, and Charlie aimed his face in our general direction. He held out his hand, oddly pointing at Cindy, and she took it, looking at me.

"It's okay," I said to Cindy, "don't worry. Charlie can't see you, but he's already figured out what you look like."

Charlie smiled, closed his eyes, and hummed like he'd just eaten a chocolate-chip cookie. "And I love Beautiful," he said with his nose in the air.

Cindy blushed and ushered Annie forward. Annie looked up at Charlie, not quite sure what to do, and Charlie turned his ear toward her. Her breathing sounded like that of a chronic asthmatic. Charlie stepped from the car, knelt down, and placed his right hand gently on Annie's face.

She stood, hands at her sides, beret flopped to one side, while Charlie traced the contours of her face with his fingertips and then found her hand and shook it gently. He placed his face very close to Annie's, moving his eyes as if trying to find any light or reflection whatsoever. When he finished "reading" her face, he took Annie's hand again and said, "I once knew a girl who looked a lot like you." He held her hand with both of his and said, "I hear you have a special heart."

Annie smiled and unconsciously rubbed the sandal about her neck.

Charlie listened, placed his fingertips around both the sandal and the nitroglycerin pill container, and asked, "What's this?"

Annie beamed. "That was my mama's. It's a sandal."

Charlie leaned in, placing his ear closer, like a safecracker at work.

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