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To erous as Pooh, but he seeht, whatever you say"
"I’s "Stuff happens, son YouWhat kind of load are you hauling?"
"Turkeys"
"There aren’t any people in the trailer?"
He frowns "Why would there be people?"
"I just need to ask"
"This rig is a reefer," he says, pointing to the refrigeration unit on the front of the trailer "Frozen turkeys"
"So any people in there would be frozen dead"
"That’snorth"
"You won’t shoot me in the back?"
"I’m not that type, sir"
"No offense, son"
"Getforlorn, Santa stripped of his sleigh and reindeer As he passes the end of the trailer, without glancing back, he says, "Won’t be easy to fence frozen turkeys, son"
"I know just what to do with thehty feet past the rig, I climb into the tractor and pull the door shut
This is really bad I’m embarrassed to have to write about this I’ve killed people, sure, but they were vicious people anted to killfrom an innocent person--or from a wicked person, either, coun away froue is more self-defense than theft or, at the worst, unapproved borrowing
Taped to the storage ledge above the windshield is a group photo of ht be his parents, a nice-looking woman of about fifty, who is probably his sister Berniece, and a boy who can be no one but the orphan Tie space above the overhead CB radio is a photo of olden retriever that he clearly adores, and beside that is clipped a reminder card that in fancy script says JESUS LOVES ME
I feel like crap What I’ve done so far is bad, but I’m about to do even worse
THIRTEEN
Souy with a cold smooth voice says, "Jolie Ann Harmony," like he wants to spook hted room with six dead people in haz, with their faceslike psycho clowns, their teeth kind of glowing green behind their faceplates When I hear my name, I pretty much expect one of the six, maybe all of the-dead hazuys, zombie astronauts, but none of themdead are always trying to fake you out and then catch you unaware
Souess, would turn back at this point I don’t know e to Hiskott and all that for five years, I haven’t been able to cultivate like eight or ten best friends forever And even if I had soo on cool sleepovers without hiht now I feel like scurrying back to wait for Harry exactly where he leftI do, there’s no reason to think that I’d be safer there Whatever ht kill me here could cos for breakfast So it’s just as duo back, and no less du but du one
"Jolie Ann Haruy repeats, and maybe he’s invisible, because his voice seems to come out of nowhere
"Yeah, what do you want?"
He doesn’t answer me Maybe he’s disappointed that his cold smooth spooky voice doesn’t seem to scareyou do all kinds of rotten things, let hten you than so one version or another of Boo!
"You have so to say to me?" I ask
"Jolie Ann Harmony"
"Here Present Je suis Jolie"
"Jolie Ann Har to a parrot or soain
If I’ve got to be honest, I’ll admit I’m sort of scared After all, I’m, which is how fear feels when it comes into your throat from somewhere, and I walk past those six dead people to another one of those ginorht I keep following seems to be yet another room away, and maybe it’s like the Pied Piper who lures all the children to their doom because the townsfolk won’t pay hi the rats away to drown in the river But what aain, which is beginning to be annoying So I let the big old guht into the next chaunk and reek like spoiled , but I’ht winks out, and I’ht think it would, because everything bad that’s ever happened to ht, not in the dark, and at least in the dark, if there’s so is you don’t have to see it Then a soft, shihosty at first, but it grows a little brighter and brighter It’s a huge sphere, hard to tell how big in this gloohten anything more than a few feet beyond it
Well, I can stand here untilcareful not to fall into some pit if there is a pit The floor is hard rubberlike stuff again, and I go at least forty feet fro next to the sphere It’sUnless it’s suspended froest bubble ever, its silver light reflected dimly on the black floor three feet under it I can’t tell is it heavy or is it light like a bubble, but , if it was resting on the floor, it would crush the foundation, drop through to the earth underneath, and cru into a pit on top of it
This isn’t theI’ve ever seen, because the word unique is an absolute, there can’t be degrees of it A thing is unique or it isn’t It’s not very unique or pretty unique or more unique Just unique That’s one of the sixty million facts you have to learn when you’re homeschooled by parents who’ve read a library’s worth of books and think about just everything But this sphere is unique for sure
The thing is silent, but it gives off this ogest idiot if I touched it Maybe I’ve rade, but the truth is that I get the phlegain, thicker than before, and I have to keep sing hard to be able to breathe right Don’t ask aboutlike some pneu darkness coain, just as pompous as ever I want to smack him, I swear I do "Jolie Ann Harmony does not have project clearance"
"Who are you?"
"Jolie Ann Harmony does not have project clearance"
"Where are you?"
He clauy is, I’erous as any axe murderer and I should pussyfoot around hie in a conversation
"You’re judgenerally i I don’t expect a reply, but then he says, "Nevertheless, you do not have project clearance"
"Well, I think I do"