Read Online The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll - Free Book Online

both my sneaker and sock in one plunge. I looked to see if she’d been watching, but her eyes were closed, hands still folded in her lap. I put my other, dry foot carefully into the puddle and left it there until I felt the cold seeping in. Then I paddled both feet up and down in my new little footbath. Splish splat.
    “What … are … you … doing?”
    Splish splat.
    “Thomas, don’t do that.” She started to laugh. It sounded so much better than the rain. “Don’t be crazy! Close the door.”
    My back was to her, and I felt her grab a handful of my sweatshirt. She laughed harder and gave a strong tug.
    “Will you please get back in here? What are you doing?”
    I looked up into the rain, and it was coming down so hard and sharp that it forced my eyes closed. “Penance! Penance! All of my fucking life people have been asking me what it was like to be Stephen Abbey’s son. Every time I try to answer that question, I sound dumber and dumber.”
    I stopped flapping my feet. I felt so sad, like such an idiot. I wanted to turn around and look at her, but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Sax. If I had anything to say, God knows, I’d tell you.”
    The wind was blowing the rain right into my face. A family walked by and gaped at me.
    “I don’t care, Thomas.” The wind gusted and closed my eyes again. I didn’t know if I’d heard her right.
    “What?”
    “I said that I don’t care about your father.” She touched my back with the flat of her hand, and now her voice was strong and insistent and loving.
    I turned around and put my wet arms around her. I kissed her warm neck and could feel her kissing mine.
    “Hold me tight, you old sponge. You’ve already got me soaked.” She squeezed tighter and gave my neck a bite.
    I couldn’t think of anything to say except for a line from France’s book The Green Dog’s Sorrow : “The Voice of Salt loved Krang too. When it was with her, it always whispered.”

2
    We had planned to make the trip in two days, but suddenly we were stopping at Stuckey’s for pralines, Frontier Town or Santa Claus Village or Reptile City whenever we saw them advertised, and anywhere in general if we were in the mood.
    “Wait a minute. Do you want to see … hold it … the site of the Battle of Green River?”
    “I don’t know. Sure. What war was it in?”
    “What’s the difference? Five miles to go. Sax, what’s your favorite France book?”
    “It’s a toss-up between Pool of Stars and Land of Laughs .”
    “ Pool of Stars? Really?”
    “Yes, I think my favorite scene of all is in there. The one where the girl goes down to the beach at night. When she sees the old man and the white bird scooping those blue holes out of the ocean.”
    “Jeez, I couldn’t say what my favorite scene is. Something out of Land of Laughs , though. Definitely. But I’d have trouble choosing between a funny scene and a magical one. In many ways I like the funny scenes more now, but when I was little those battles between the Words and the Silence … phew!”
    “Thomas, don’t drive off the road.”
    Sometimes we pulled off the highway into a parking area and perched on the hot hood of the car, watching everyone fly by. Neither of us would say a word, and there wasn’t any urge to keep moving, to get there.
    The first night out, we stayed in a little town just west of Pittsburgh. The people who ran our motel raised black-and-tan coonhounds, and after dinner we took a few puppies out onto the front lawn and let them bite us for a while.
    “Thomas?”
    “Uh-huh? Hey, catch him before he gets away.”
    “Listen to me, Thomas, this is serious.”
    “Okay.”
    “Do you know this is the first time I’ve ever been to a motel with anyone?”
    “Is that right?”
    “Uh-huh. And you know what else? I’m very pleased.” She handed me a puppy and stood up. “When I was younger and used to think about my burns all the time, I never thought any man would ever want to go to a motel with me, the way I