Rich Shapero

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Book: Read Rich Shapero for Free Online
Authors: Too Far
right through them when Fristeen cried
out.
    "They're covered with needles."
    Robbie yelped as one jabbed his leg.
    He could see now—every wand was
bristling—so they backed out and scouted along the edge of the patch. The
plants grew thickly, there were impossible tangles, but Robbie found a place
where a shadowy tunnel seemed to go through.
    He dropped to all fours and wriggled
forward. Fristeen followed close behind. The tunnel turned and dipped and rose
toward the light. A stray needle stuck Robbie and he sucked his breath. Then
his elbows emerged and he scrambled out.
    "Made it." He gave her a victory
grin. "Some of your things came off." He eyed her dress.
    "It scratched you." Fristeen
touched the scarlet squiggle on his arm.
    "Yep."
    She bent her head and kissed it.
    Robbie reached out and stroked her hair.
When he gazed into her eyes, they deepened and the stars didn't shift. No
hide-and-seek now—no laughter, no fear. Just hope, and hurts that must be
shared. The one you yearned for was here, and she yearned just like you did.
Joy made love smile, but pain made it pure.
    "Look—" Fristeen turned her head
up.
    Robbie peered into the sun.
    "White," she said.
    "Yep." It blasted your eyes.
    "Now close," Fristeen said.
    "Red," Robbie announced.
    "And white," Fristeen flared her
lids. "And red," closing again. "And white and red, and white
and red—"
    "And white and red—" Robbie
joined in.
    Faster and faster, open and close—your head
was full of flashes, a pot boiling over. And then it did, and you fell down,
clutching blindly for the other, euphoric and giggling.
    Before they left, Robbie removed his other
sock and marked the spot.
    From there, a ledge stretched on the level,
awned with thin aspens. They hurried along it, leaves Jiggling above. A breeze
cooled them and pleased them, and then they reached water— not a lot, just a
Trickle—and they hopped across.
    Something rasped in their ears.
    Robbie scanned the trees. A squirrel was
scampering along a branch. When it reached the end, it rasped again.
    "What do you want?" Robbie asked.
    The squirrel just stared.
    "Is it Shivers?" Fristeen
wondered.
    The squirrel wiggled its nose.
    Robbie shook his head. "He's talking
to us."
    The squirrel twitched its tail, shrilled
and made a chucking sound.
    "What did he say?" Fristeen laughed.
    The squirrel sprang from its perch into an
alder nearby and went vaulting through the leaves.
    '"Follow me,'" Robbie cried, and
went racing after him.
    The pursuit led them splashing through
Trickle. The water kinked and raveled, and then suddenly it vanished and the
ground dropped before them. They were on the rim of a bowl surrounded by low
willows. On the branch of one, the squirrel sat, gazing down. The bowl was full
of leaves.
    "It's a secret place," Robbie
said.
    Overhead, a lattice had been woven by the
trees' pale arms, and at every joint catkins were bursting, like a web of
cracked pipes spraying liquid sun.
    "What's that, over there?"
Fristeen pointed.
    Through the tangle of boughs, a hundred
yards distant, dark islands seemed to drift. The trees on them were spiky and
black, and each grew to a point. And there was space in between them, as if
profusion was banned there, or some scourge had struck.
    The squirrel chattered, calling their
attention back.
    "It's where you hide," Robbie
said, remembering the words of He Knows.
    "How far down does it go?"
    Robbie dropped to his hands and knees.
"Let's see." He started to descend.
    Before long, he was thigh-deep in twigs and
leaves. "It's crunchy on top," he tossed the litter in the air,
"but it's soft beneath." Then he kicked up his feet and slid to the
low point. "Come on," he cried.
    Fristeen skied on her bottom to join him.
Robbie pushed the leaves aside to make a space, and once they'd bedded in, he
covered them over.
    "It's warm," Fristeen giggled,
squirming against him.
    "Sh-h-h. We can't make any
noise."
    She bit her lips to seal them. Robbie
caught his breath. Her red

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