Read Online Sterling's Reasons by Joey Light - Free Book Online Page A

the people behind the counter. “I’d like to buy a silver charm for my six-year-old niece.
    She’s just started to take dancing lessons. A ballerina. Could I see what you have?”
    Joe moved over to the door, leaned against the jamb and just watched her.
    She was so lit up. How could she be so happy all the time? Why was she so happy all the time? What was that small momentary lapse when they had first entered the shop as she had sighed and a fleeting sadness had darted across her face? It had vanished almost as soon as it appeared…What had triggered it?
    The purchase made, along with new friends, they left the store twenty minutes later.
    The next shop was a women’s boutique. He stopped when she tugged him by the hand again. “Not this time. I’ll just wander around out here for a little while.”
    “Wimp. I think God should have given men the glee it takes to shop. Women would be much happier. You’re not having a good time.”
    “I said we’d go. I didn’t say I’d enjoy myself.”
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    Sterling’s Reasons
    Oh, well. She was getting him out, circulating his blood, and stimulating the gray matter. Let him sulk if he must. She disappeared into the store between the circular racks of clothing, sporting all colors and sizes.
    They were only half a block down from the docks. Joe could see the ocean and hear the sway and bump of ships tied to the docks. He had always loved the sea. He guessed that was why he headed down this way. He did find some kind of peace with it, but he knew he couldn’t accept the solace. So he fought it. It was the same with the tugging that went on inside him when he was with this woman. War. Always war of one kind or another. All he wanted was… He shrugged.
    A horn blew close by. Kids rode two-wheelers down the street. A kite bounced in the sky, skittering on the changing breezes. A dog wandered up to him, took one look at him, and wandered on his way. Joe found he had been on the verge of bending down to ruffle the dog’s fur when the animal decided he didn’t look friendly.
    Peace. He rolled the word over in his mind. Was that what he wanted? The guilt, the sadness, the total shock of what he had done still overwhelmed him so much that thinking was hard. It was hard to sequence things. It was hard to concentrate and, sometimes when he did, the scenes he played over in his mind only served to tear him up even more. He knew all about physical pain.
    Emotional and mental pain were also no strangers. This was such a totally different thing… He couldn’t even think of a word for it. It was easier to be mad, angry with the whole world and everyone in it. It was easier to be mindlessly depressed than to think.
    When Sterling whirled out of the shop, Joe laughed heartily, involuntarily, and shook his head.

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    57

    Joey Light
    She was dressed in an off-the-shoulder bright-yellow blouse and a below-the-knee Gypsy skirt that spotted every color in the rainbow. In a bag, dangling from her hand, were her clothes and her shoes. She turned around twice so the skirt swirled around her knees. “Well, what do you think?”
    “I think you’re crazy as hell.” But he didn’t miss the smooth nearly tanned swell of her breasts just where the blouse rested. He didn’t miss the curving sleekness of legs as the skirt settled. And he couldn’t miss the delight in her pretty eyes or not want to catch her smiling mouth with his. He only had time to wonder how all this was happening to him, through the haze of despair, when she caught her arm through his and led him to the little restaurant.
    “I see picnic tables down by the docks. We’ll get carry-out and sit down there. What do you say?” She looked up at him with a warmth that touched him.
    “Don’t you want to find a nice expensive restaurant that can serve you up that dripping lobster?”
    “Not especially. Maybe another time. I’d like to sit at the tables and watch the world go