DEAD CONNECTION : a novel by Charlie Price

« PEARL

JANOCHEK

Pearl wants to know if I’m going to get married again, but frankly, I think Doreen beat it out of me. Maybe when Pearl graduates and goes off to college I’ll think more about meeting women. I’ll be lonely. I know that for a fact.
Right now I’m getting interested in the phenomenon of clairvoyance. Do you know that a woman with that talent was able to help locate a missing man just by holding his ball point pen? And he turned out to be in a motel halfway across the country! So if that kind of knowledge can take place in a moment, what does that say about reality? About time? And what’s happening with the Kiefer kid? I don’t know. I can’t explain it at all, and that makes the whole subject pretty compelling.
And Pearl, I’m so proud of her I could burst! This whole experience rather than traumatizing her, has made her even stronger. You ought to see her on the basketball court now. She’s a maniac, tearing down rebounds, stealing passes, diving for loose balls. Coach has her starting. Teammates are slapping her on the shoulder and smiling at her. I don’t think that was happening before. She’s kind of coming into her own, finding her right size, and that’s exciting. Especially if you’re her dad. She’s even got me thinking about going back to school. I never got tired of learning. I like the cemetery work okay, but there’s so many other things that interest me. So much I’d like to read and even maybe someday teach. Pearl asked me last week whether I would enjoy taking care of a college library as much as I enjoyed taking care of Forest Grove Cemetery? Got me thinking. I like working outside, working with my hands. But I’m getting older. Yeah, it’s got me thinking.

DEPUTY ROMAN GATES »

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