Page 54
Story: Whistle
Harry, a hand on each of Dylan’s shoulders, said, “Sometimes these things happen.”
“I thought if the chief was your dad people wouldn’t steal from you.”
Harry smiled. “I wish.”
“So why did you want to talk to me?”
“Sit.”
Dylan sat.
“You know your friend Auden?” Dylan nodded. “Well. there was an accident this afternoon over at his place. Some kind ofmalfunction with the barbecue. A gas leak or something. It blew up. His dad was a little too close, and, well, it was pretty bad, and Auden’s dad was killed.”
Dylan’s face went blank, as though he didn’t quite know what to feel. “Oh,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s really awful.”
“Did you ever meet him when you were over there?”
Dylan’s head went up and down. “Couple of times. He was okay. Auden said his dad drank a lot. Is that what happened? Was he drunk when he was using the barbecue?”
“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t go around repeating a story like that because there might not be anything to it. Anyway, Auden’s going to need his friends in the days and weeks to come. Pretty hard, losing your dad.”
Dylan bit his upper lip. “I worry about that a lot.”
“About?”
“About you. Being the chief.”
“I’m okay. I’m careful.”
Dylan cast an eye at their own barbecue. “We shouldn’t use that anymore.”
“Tell you what. I’ll get it all checked out before we throw any more burgers on the grill. Check the gas connections and everything.”
Dylan nodded slowly. “Okay.” A pause, and then, “Is there anything else?”
Harry shook his head. “If you want to talk about it later, you know, we can.”
The boy nodded and went back into the house as Janice was coming out. She sat. “How’d he take it?”
“I don’t know what I was expecting. I thought he might burst into tears or something, but he seemed okay.”
“It’s a lot to process.”
They were both quiet until Harry finally asked, “So, how wasyourday?”
Janice worked in the offices of Lucknow Power and Light, which supplied electricity to the town and the surrounding region. “SSDD,” she said, short forsame shit, different day. “They had the crew out again trying to track down that drain on the system.”
“Have you told me about this? When I ask what drain on the system, are you going to give me that you-never-listen look?”
“I’m doing it now,” she said, glaring at him.
“So tell me again.”
“You know how last year around downtown, we replaced all the old low-pressure sodium lights in the streetlamps with induction bulbs? That use forty percent less energy?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54 (Reading here)
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154