Read Online Imperfections by Bradley Somer - Free Book Online

paste in the corners of his mouth and the brown flecks of food stuck between his teeth.
    I screamed and struggled harder.
    â€œHey,” the carnie barked through his foul grin.
    I pulled and twisted. I caught a glimpse of Leonard running forward and kicking his shin.
    The grip released. Leonard and I retreated out of arm’s reach and stopped, scared to keep our back to the man.
    â€œYou little bastard,” the man spoke around the nail and rubbed his shin.
    Leonard held my elbow and I felt his grip tense, ready to run or ready to fight, I wasn’t sure.
    â€œI was talkin’ at ya,” the carnie said. He seemed to think for a moment. “You guys wanna see something different, something really far out?”
    His eyebrows rose. Ours followed suit.
    â€œWhat?” Leonard asked though his grip didn’t lessen on my elbow.
    â€œI don’t know if I wanna tell ya now you gone kicked me.”
    â€œWhat could you have to show us?” Leonard asked.
    I made to leave but Leonard’s grip on my elbow stopped me.
    â€œIt’s something so far out, they tell us not to show anyone,” the carnie continued. “Something that even makes the management nervous, something we ain’t even supposed to talk about,” the carnie paused and gave an exaggerated hurt look as he finished rubbing his shin. He pulled the nail from between his teeth, a string of spit dragged out with it. “Can you boys keep a secret?”
    How could we not?
    The carnie continued to talk, the white gobs at the corner of his mouth migrating as his lips moved, “You can’t never tell no one. Not your parents, not the cops, not nobody. Promise?”
    â€œPromise,” Leonard said.
    â€œI ain’t sure I can trust the two of you. How can I know you’ll keep a secret?”
    Leonard took a step closer.
    â€œOh, you can trust us. We won’t tell anyone. We already promised.”
    The carnie rolled his bloodshot eyes from Leonard to me and then back to Leonard. Then he seemingly made up his mind. “Y’all will love this.” The carnie smiled. “Foller me.”
    How could we not?
    We followed the carnie’s baggy, stained jeans and skinny shoulders around the back of a tent. He checked over his shoulder to see if we followed and gave a crooked smile when he saw that we did. He stopped at a tent, hiked up his jeans while he glanced about and pulled a flap open on the tent.
    I peeked in. It was mostly dark except for a dim glow coming from somewhere deep inside.
    â€œThis way gentlemen,” the carnie said.
    There are many moments in life that conspire toward making you the person you turn out to be on your deathbed. All of the events, the people, the places you go, the things you do and have done to you, everything foreshadows the person you are at the end. Final hindsight is like the cover of the puzzle box: it shows you the big picture but during life all you get are the pieces.
    What was in that tent would change Leonard and me forever, in very different ways. The pieces are all coming together but they can only be seen in hindsight. Leonard and I were too young to realize this. We had the puzzle but not all the pieces were there yet.
    I followed Leonard through the tent flap.  
    It dropped behind us with a wet sound.

CHAPTER 5

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    Tokyo Is in Flames
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    â€œWelcome to the big one-oh,” Father yelled, then grimaced over the screaming kids at Bullwinkle’s. “Happy Birthday, Kiddo.”
    The table we sat at was ringed by Leonard, Auntie Maggie and Uncle Tony. Our table was surrounded by other tables full of kids celebrating similar milestones. Those full tables reminded me that I invited ten kids from school and only Leonard showed up.
    In an outer orbit around the tables were banks of coloured spotlights roaming the darkness and large speakers with poor sound quality. These pumped out a static and pop version of “Rock Me