Read Odd Billy Todd for Free Online

Ranger moving back toward the house. He still had a lot to do today.
    He needed to go back into town, as bad as the thought bothered him. Every time he turned around, there was something that he needed and didn’t have. Or at least, didn’t have enough of. Using the Ranger today had reminded him that he would need more gas than the farm tank was likely to have in it. The tank held five hundred gallons when full, but Billy knew it wasn’t full. What he didn’t know was exactly how much gas was in the tank.
    And he knew he should know. That was something his father had taught him. Knowing what you have also lets you know what you don’t have, his father had always said. Billy stopped the Ranger and took out his notebook. He carefully wrote that saying on the inside cover. He figured that way he’d see it almost every day, as a reminder.
    I need to know what I have. I gotta do better. I got to make a plan, and I gotta stick to it. Returning the notebook to his pocket, he started on toward the house.
    Something else was still nagging him. There was just no way, none that he could figure anyway, that he could be the only person left alive in the world. His own world extended very little beyond Cedar Bend. He hadn’t seen anyone else alive in Cedar Bend. He was smart enough to know that this didn’t necessarily mean there was no one else. Just that he hadn’t seen anyone.
    And what about folk who lived outside of town, like he did? Were some of them still alive? There were a lot of people that Billy knew, people that knew him, that lived on farms just like his, or even bigger. His farm wasn’t that big compared to someone like, say, Mister Silvers. Jeremiah Silvers was the next farm down from his. He hadn’t seen Mister Silvers in some time. Could be he was still alive, him and his family. He could go over and check on them.
    That idea warmed him a little, until he thought of something else. What if they’re all dead? What if I go over there and Mister Silvers and his family are dead, just like all those people in town? Like all those people on the road? That thought took the warmth he was starting to feel away again.
    Another thing was, what if Mister Silvers didn’t recognize him? Would the old man shoot him? Would his family? Billy just didn’t know. He’d known Mister Silvers his whole life. He had worked on his truck, on his wife’s car, and on his daughter’s truck, too. The son wasn’t old enough to have a car. Or, maybe he was, Billy thought, and it just never needed any work done on it. Yeah, that might be it.
    There was also Widow George, who lived a few miles across a country lane from Billy. You could almost see her house without binoculars when the leaves were off. Was she alive? Was she okay? Maybe he should go check on her, and see if she needed anything. She was gettin’ on in years, he remembered. Might need a hand or two. He liked Widow George. She kept her car clean, and always had him change the oil right on time. He liked that. People who took care of their cars, and their animals, were usually good people. Smart people.
    Of course, Billy knew he wasn’t smart, but he always took good care of his truck. Okay, so maybe people who took good care of their cars weren’t always good people. But Widow George was good people. He knew that for a fact. Maybe her keeping her car took care of was just a coincidence.
    But, Mister Silvers always took good care of all of his cars, and Billy was pretty sure that Mister Silvers was okay. He stopped the Ranger again, this time in sight of the house, and slapped his leg. How was he supposed to figure out who he could trust? If it wasn’t people who took good care of their cars, then who? It came to him all at once.
    The List! Daddy’s List of “People Who You Can Trust”! How had he forgotten the List? It was one of the things Daddy had said was most important, people to check with if anything ever happened. Of course, he didn’t think Daddy had ever