Read Online dissonance. (a Böhme novel) by Sarah Buhl - Free Book Online

escaped to. “Don’t let Karl get too worked up over this showing,” he said with a smile as he turned to go back in his house. “You know how he gets.”
    I found Karl in the shed working on separating several boxes from other boxes. “Are the art pieces in those?” I asked.
    “No, those are the pieces,” he said as he picked one of them up and lifted the lid. “See, have a look.”
    He stood and showed me the box. Inside was an entire scene painted in three dimensions. This gave the impression you could touch the contents of the painting. It was of a miniature of the solar system and the planets looked as though they floated in orbit, but that was the trick of his painting.
    “Dude, these are fucking awesome. What are the others?” I asked.
    He handed me another one, and I looked inside to see a street scene with people sitting outside a café.
    “Each of them is a life,” he said in his usual dry sincere tone. “It represents how every life is sheltered from the other lives around them. We’re just stacked next to each other, never interacting. But our lives are our world, regardless of the solitude.”
    Holy shit, Karl is fucking deep.
    “You never cease to amaze, man.” I said as I looked around at the stacks of boxes. The work he had put into them showed and I wondered how many hours of his time he wrapped into these boxes. “Okay, do you know which you want to take?” I asked.
    He turned absently around the shed, taking in each of them as if he could tell what they were by evaluating the outside of them. In a weird way, I believed he could.
    “You think I can take every one of them?” he asked as he dropped his hands to his sides.
    “Yes, we should be able to get them in there,” I said as I began to take them to my Jeep.
    __________
    A half hour later we were back on the road and heading to the Böhme.
    “Are you going to respond to Brecken?” Karl asked.
    “Yeah, I will. But I don’t know how I can top that song,” I said and smiled as I thought of how funny she was.
    “Why do you need to top it? Can’t you be honest with her?” he asked.
    “Well, when you put it that way, yeah I should be honest with her, shouldn’t I?” I pulled my phone from my pocket while we were stopped at a light. It began to change, so I handed it to Karl. “Go ahead and respond to her for me and say this— Apology accepted. What are you doing later? Then send her a cartoon video.”
    He laughed, “A cartoon? Why?”
    “Just do it—preferably something with He-Man. Send her the first one you come across,” I said as I turned onto the last street.
    He laughed to himself as he sent the message. “Okay, here you go,” he said as he handed my phone back to me.
    “What’s so funny?” I asked.
    “Nothing," he said with another laugh. "There’s a spot right over there by the back entrance,” he said, pointing toward the alley next to the building that housed the Böhme. The familiar mural on the side of it reminded me of Wynn. He was always at this place after his mother died and since he was here, I was too.
    Farther into the alley from where I parked, a young kid dressed in dark shorts and tall black socks leaned against the wall. He pushed a skateboard back and forth in front of him, as he leaned onto the wall behind him. It was the same kid from last night. When he saw Karl, he perked up and came toward us.
    “You need help Karl?” he asked.
    “Yeah, thanks Mason, go ahead and grab any of them. We’re taking them up to the main room for the showing tonight.”
    “Oh okay, cool.” The kid turned to me with his hand outstretched. “Name’s Mason Wallace.”
    I took his hand to shake and let out a chuckle, “Hey man, Blake Lawson. You were the kid I talked to last night outside Henley's, right?” I asked.
    He let go of my hand and stacked two of the boxes together with a nod. “Oh yeah—the car guy, you said that wagon was sexy. You an artist too?” he asked as he kicked the door of the