Read Online The Breakthrough by Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online

pointed to the keypad. “View pictures, select, share, text, send.” He looked up. “Done! Now you shoot one of Max and me.”
    “All right, if I don’t have to move.”
    Max joined Alfonso in front of Florence, and she shot a slightly crooked picture of them.
    “Haeley’ll love this!” he said, pushing a bunch of buttons. “And I’m copying you on it too, ma’am. Hey, Max, you want to see your mom and me just before I shipped out?” He pushed a few buttons and sat on the bench next to Florence. Max climbed in his lap and stared into the phone. One of the pictures stored in his phone was of him shoulder to shoulder with Haeley, and if Florence had to guess, she would have said their smiles hid the fear of what his overseas assignment could mean.
    Soon Alfonso was lifting the boy into a swing. He pushed Max higher and higher. “You be careful now, soldier!” Florence called out. “I got to answer for this boy, you know.”
    “I’d no more hurt him than you, ma’am! Max, you want to play tag?”
    “Sure! How?”
    Alfonso caught the swing in midair and brought it to a slow stop. “I tag you—like this—and run away. That makes you it . Then you catch me and tag me, and I’m it. Trees and my car are safe.”
    “You gonna be runnin’ all around?” Florence said. “I need to keep sittin’.”
    “We’ll stay in sight,” Alfonso said. “Won’t we, Max?”
    “Yeah!”
    “A’ight then.”
    But when Max and his uncle began scampering around the park, laughing and squealing and chasing each other, Max racing from tree to tree for safety, Florence worked herself up off the bench. The boy was getting redder by the minute and looked to be sweating more than she was. It was time to get back to the cool apartment and some Neapolitan. You’re never cooler, she told herself, than when you’ve been hot.
    “I’m not leaving her,” Boone told Jack as two EMTs, a man and a woman about his age, flew into the yard.
    “That’s fine; you go with her. We’ll meet you at the hospital.”
    “Can Margaret come with me?”
    “We don’t want to crowd the back of the bus,” the male EMT said.
    Jack flashed his badge. “You’re going to have the patient and two riders,” he said. “Let’s not spend one more second arguing.”

9
Gone
    Florence tried to stay in the shade as she shuffled along, working to keep Max in sight. He appeared to be having the time of his life, and she could hear his high-pitched laugh from way across the park. Apparently Alfonso was it , and Florence could tell he was running slowly after Max on purpose. He could have easily run the boy down with his strong, athletic stride. How nice for Max to have another uncle, especially one like Alfonso.
    The boy had bolted from the last safe tree and was running in the open now—heading toward Alfonso’s car. Florence was glad it sat on the park side of the street, but still she hoped Alfonso would know better than to let Max get too close to traffic. As soon as his uncle caught him, she was going to signal them it was time to head back.
    But it seemed the more she hurried, the farther away they got. Must be nice to be young.
    Now Max was cackling, looking back, pumping his little arms and legs, and heading straight for the Buick. “Not my car!” Alfonso cried out in mock fear. “The car is safe and you’ll have foiled me again!”
    Max proved he had a sense of humor too, because when he reached the Buick, he didn’t touch it for safety but stood near it, seeming to tease his uncle.
    “You rascal!” Alfonso called out. “Be careful or I’ll tag you!”
    Just as he reached the boy, Max touched the car. Alfonso collapsed to the sidewalk as if spent and defeated, and they both laughed and laughed. Alfonso stood and opened his arms and Max went to him. The Ranger lifted him and twirled him, making Max hoot even more.
    “But you know what?” Alfonso said, setting the boy down. “You’re it!”
    “No fair!” Max said and charged his