Read Online A Boy and His Corpse by Richard B. Knight - Free Book Online

stare at the door from the floor. He clutched the leg of his seat, terrified of what lurked on the other side.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    President Rosewater
     
     
                  “Whatever happens next is all your fault,” the text message read on the President’s secret cell phone.
                  President Rosewater rubbed his eyes. Oh, God. What happened now?
                  When the calls and texts from Mr. Rovas came in an hour ago, he had chickened out and said he had a meeting with the President of Israel, but that was a lie. Communication between the two Presidents had been nonexistent since last they spoke.
    After an hour of not returning Mr. Rovas’ texts and calls, he finally texted back: “Sorry. Busy meeting. What happened”
                  The phone rang at once and Rosewater jumped out of his seat. As he stared at the phone, he rubbed his right eyebrow.
                  God, give me strength. Rosewater clicked the talk button and put it to his ear. “Hello?”
                  “Well, I hope you settled your differences with President Lampel since we’re certainly not going to have Herbert’s help now.”
                  “Why? What happened?”
                  “You said you were going to talk to him!”
                  “Is Herbert still with you? Put him on the phone.”
                  “It’s a little too late for that now, Mr. President . I put Herbert down.”
                  President Rosewater’s stomach dropped. “You…You killed him?”
                  “ Killed him ?” Mr. Rovas exclaimed. “God, no! I actually probably should have killed him after what I did to him. I mean I figuratively put him down. God. He’s not a dog.” 
    “It’s just that…Well, the way you said it!”
    “Never mind the way I said it. The point is, he was getting too big for his britches, so I knocked him down a peg.”
                  “Knocked him down a peg how?”

              “With fire.”
                  “ Fire?! ” The President exclaimed. He suddenly felt ill.
                  “Yeah. I had to use the flamethrower.”
                  “Why the hell do you have a flame—you know what, never mind.” The President rubbed his eyes. “How did he react to it?”
                  “Doesn’t matter. What does matter though is that I have no idea where he is right now.”
                  “What!?” The President asked, leaping out of his seat. “I thought you could track him.”
                  “Well, we thought so, too, but he disappeared into a cloud of smoke and was gone. He’s never done that before. I can’t track him now.”
                  Rosewater’s heart raced. He scanned the Oval Office for some kind of weapon, and found one, of sorts, in the flag pole in the corner. Maybe he could use that if Herbert just so happened to come after him.
                  “What are we going to do, Jim, er, I mean, Mr. Rovas? Sorry.”
                  “First of all, it’s TIM, not JIM. How many times do I have to tell you that, Roger? And second of all, the question is, what are you going to do about it? I tried getting you involved and you didn’t keep your promise. So this is on you now.”
                  “You can’t leave me like this, Mr. Rovas. Please! What am I going to do? We need Herbert.”
                  “Well, you should have thought of that before you didn’t pick up my calls.”
                  “What about his son?” Rosewater asked frantically. “You said he’s been getting better.”
                  “I’m not doing anything with Herbert still out there on the loose.”
    “But you have to!”
    “Hell, no. I’m not risking my