Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
As does Amon.
This is a job to them. Danger, and secret hiding places, and coded word puzzles comin’ in the mail, and maps of tunnels underneath your compound. It’s all in a day’s work to these men.
I’ve never been particularly afraid of anything. I mean, my own sad heart sometimes scares me. But that comes and goes in a casual will-I-end-up-a-spinster kind of way. Not a strange-man-claiming-to-be-my-baby-daddy-just-stole-my-child kinda way.
As I slowly follow-the-leader out of the secret underground hallway that lives beside a secret munitions bunker, which resides below a fortified church, outside of which stands an army of a hundred men ready to go to war with some bureaucrat over my once-missing child, I have an epiphany.
I might not live in the real world.
I’m not sure I know what the real world is.
I’m not sure I want to.
I come out the church doors and the first thing I see is Amon Parrish standing in the long gravel driveway of Edge Security with his hand on my son’s shoulder. Like I’m getting off a train or something. Like I just got back from a trip and they’re picking me up to take me home.
Cross is angry. I can tell because when I come up to them, he sighs instead of smiles.
I reach out, put my arms around him, pull him close, and hug him tight.
He could pull away, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t really hug me back, either, but I don’t care. We can sort these feelings out later. Right now, I’m just happy he’s home.
This is what I really want to talk about, so I turn to Amon. “Can we stay at your place?”
Amon is nodding yes before I even stop talking. “Of course.”
“In fact”—I push back from Cross because I’m kinda talking to him now—“I think we should just move in for good.” Cross throws me a look of confusion, which quickly turns into suspicion. “I’ve been thinking, son, that you were right.”
“About what?” This comes out real surly.
“About… learning to do important things.”
One of his eyebrows cocks up. And when I glance at Amon, he’s got one of his up as well.
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s time for you to learn to be… well, whatever it is you want to be.”
“Well, I wanna be like my daddy, that’s who I wanna be. I wanna live underground in a secret city, and do target practice at the range, and take secret trains to restaurants that you don’t even have up here.”
It amazes me how fast I went from ‘us’ to ‘them’ in this boy’s mind. But then I remind myself that he’s twelve and I can work with twelve. “What would you say if I told you we were gonna quit the Revival?”
“What?” His whole face goes cockeyed. “Why would we do that?”
“Because it’s pretend.”
“But…” This has clearly caught him off guard. He looks at Amon.
Amon just puts up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I’ve got nothing to do with this.”
When Cross looks back at me, I keep going. “Yes, I think it’s time to move away. To here.” I point down at Amon’s house. Which makes Amon happy, because he smiles and nods his head.
“What about Bishop? And those dresses you like? And your paper? And what about—”
“It’s all pretend, Cross. This is real. And I know that you’ve made up your mind that you wanna be just like your daddy, but… take a look around, son. Is there any more secret-spy place than Edge Security? Did you, or did you not, just come out a secret tunnel in an old abandoned mine?”
He’s looking in the direction of the woods when he says, “I did.”
“And did you know that I was hiding in yet another secret tunnel underneath that church right there?”
His eyes dart over to the church, then he looks at Amon.
Amon nods. “That’s right. We’ve discovered a whole bunch of secret shit around here.”
“Can I see it?” All the anger and grumpiness has left my son’s tone and he’s now excited, and smiling, and his eyes are filled with curiosity.
“If it’s OK with—”
But I’m already nodding my head ‘yes,’ and Cross’s kid-sense has detected this permission, so his little feet are running in that direction.
Amon turns to me. “You OK?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“This is kind of a big move. I mean, you can stay for sure, Rosie. But you don’t have to give up your place, ya know? And you certainly don’t have to quit the Revival. I mean, we just promised Jim Bob to run security for him so I’m gonna be there every weekend.”
“Yep.” I nod my agreement. “That’s all true. But don’t you remember what it was like to live there? To be inside the show, all the time?”
Amon’s face goes thoughtful. “Oh, I do. I hated it. I couldn’t wait to leave.”
“Do you remember why you hated it, Amon?”