Read Online Lost Christmas by David Logan - Free Book Online Page B

know.’ Anthony shrugged. ‘Like you. Anyway, back to me not knowing my name.’
Don’t lose his attention again
, Anthony told himself.
    â€˜How can you not know your own name?’ asked Goose.
    â€˜I’m not sure. There seem to be lots of things I can’t remember. Like I’m pretty sure I wasn’t here yesterday, but today I am and I don’t remember the bit in between. The getting here.’
    â€˜So where were you?’ asked Goose.
    â€˜I don’t remember. I remember lights. Lots of lights and noise.’
    â€˜Maybe you were abducted by aliens,’ said Goose. ‘Isaw a film about that once. People lose whole chunks of time.’
    â€˜It’s a possibility, I suppose,’ said Anthony.
Don’t go off on a tangent!
He admonished himself in his head, partly because he already knew he was about to go off on a tangent. ‘Did you know that the sun is three hundred and thirty thousand, three hundred and thirty times larger than the Earth?’
    â€˜Can’t say I did know that,’ said Goose. ‘Or particularly want to know it,’ he added.
    Get to the point! Get to the point!
‘And there are three hundred and thirty-six dimples on a regulation golf ball.’
    Anthony could see Goose running the figures through his head.
    Then the boy frowned. ‘So? So what?’ he asked. ‘Three hundred and thirty thousand, three hundred and thirty, and three hundred and thirty-six aren’t the same numbers.’
    â€˜No, but they’re close.’
    â€˜No, they’re not.’
    â€˜No, I suppose they’re not. Similar though.’
    Goose shook his head. ‘They both have some threes in them. You seem to know a lot of useless facts.’
    â€˜Yeah, I do, don’t I? Maybe I got hit on the head by an encyclopaedia salesman.’ Anthony meant it to be funny, but he knew it wasn’t, and he could tell Goose didn’t think it was either. The boy was looking away.
    â€˜Look I’ve got to be going now, okay?’ said Goose, having decided a direct and calm approach was probably the best way to handle this guy.
    Anthony nodded. ‘Okay.’
It’s now or never
, he told himself.
    â€˜I don’t want you following me. You tell me which way you want to go and I’ll go the other way.’ Goose sounded very reasonable and mature. Anthony suddenly felt like the child. ‘You want to go that way –’ Goose pointed west – ‘and I’ll go this way?’ He pointed east. ‘Or you go this way –’ east – ‘and I’ll go that way.’ West.
    â€˜By lying on your back and raising your legs, you can’t sink in quicksand.’
    Goose was already shaking his head before Anthony had even finished the sentence. ‘That’s not going to be much use in Manchester, is it? Not a lot of quicksand.’
    â€˜S’pose not,’ muttered Anthony.
    â€˜And I don’t want to know any more trivia,’ added Goose.
    â€˜Dogs can make up to a hundred different expressions,’ said Anthony hopefully.
    â€˜No,’ said Goose, forcefully but still not losing his temper. ‘Listen, Anthony, or whatever your name is, we need to go our separate ways now, okay?’
    â€˜But our paths must’ve crossed for a reason.’
    Goose frowned. ‘How d’you mean?’
    â€˜Well, it can’t be a coincidence, can it?’ asked Anthony.
    â€˜What can’t?’ Goose didn’t understand.
    â€˜That I meet the boy who stole the bangle from the old lady right after I meet the old lady whose bangle you stole.’ Anthony stopped to repeat that in his head to make sure it made sense. He was relieved that it did make sense and he had finally managed to say what he had been trying to say all along. Then he looked at Goose and could literally see the colour draining from his face. Anthony realized he had said the wrong thing. He