Easter City Read Free

fun
‘cuz I get kisses from pretty women and good food and some Wealthy
Devils let me try the slots in that Big Win Casino. Then the
parade’s over and it’s no fun no more ‘cuz everyone’s in their
hotels or left town. And I figure me old man wun’t in a right state
o’ mind to come find me what with me disobeying him an’
all…”
    He would’ve been a good storyteller if it
weren’t for the forced accent. I could see the whole thing unfold
in my head and it made me think of how I got to living on Main
Street and who my parents were, or if I had any.
            “… fing of it was,
after I lost me suit, people stopped paying for me food and beat me
and treated me like…like your type. So I
sort o’ gave up hope ‘til I remembered what me father had told me
one time. ‘e set me down, up on ‘is lap and said, ‘Joq, if you is
ever lost, I’ll find you, I will.’ And I ‘int given up hope since
then.” Joq sighed.
            I
rubbed my forehead. “Okay… so you’re a wealthy person’s son, and
he’s going to come get you. What does that have to do with me?”
    Joq brushed past me, got on tiptoes and
rattled the grate until it fell onto the street.
           
“‘cuz, in all me adventures I found an escape from all this.” He
gestured around again, then he reached up tousled my tangled hair.
I gave him another blank stare.
            “C’mon now. I said
we should get out o’ ‘ere. Said this ‘int no way to live. There’s a
side street where there’s none of ‘em mean wealthy folk. I’ll show
you it! Call it fanks for my diversion and the meal, yeah? C’mon…
What’s worse than this ?
            Running into Cranston and his crew on the sidewalks. Following
you—a crazy beggar kid who thinks he’s the son of a wealthy man—to
a made-up side street.
            But those risks seemed worth it when I compared it with
standing alone in this freezing gutter water, so I followed the
strange beggar kid up through the grate. I didn’t even pause to
check for traffic or pedestrians. I just followed him and ducked
when he ducked and dove when he did and all the while my mind was
racing.
    I’d seen him every night for the past few
night but I couldn’t bring myself to accept that there was some
minor paradise that I hadn’t found. So I chased him blindly,
chewing on something he had said. ‘If you is ever lost, I’ll find
you’
    I had dreamt that I would meet a beggar kid
who looked like me. I had dreamt that dream every night for a
while. But the dream changed last night. Instead of meeting a
beggar kid, I was in a casino and there was chaos and a woman lying
in a pool of blood. In the dream I ran outside with a man with a
cane and another boy who was blonde, though it wasn’t Joq, and
there was a limousine waiting and we hopped in. In the dream the
man had said ‘I found you!’, or something like that.
            A
gust-born flyer caught me between the eyes. I peeled it off—
JULIA’S SWORD. 11 FRIDAY. ONE NIGHT ONLY—and let it slip out of my
fingers.
           
Like I said I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going so I
guess he was good at not getting us caught. We weren’t attacked and
when I shook Joq’s words from my mind, we had turned down a dark
side street.
           
Joq turned with a boastful look and flapped his arms and hooted
louder than any beggar kid should dare.  
           
“Shut up!” I hissed. “Are you trying to kill us? If you die you’ll
never get to see your stupid, precious little…” I trailed off.
           
Joq gave me a quizzical look and went on talking at the top of his
voice, which made me wonder how such a little kid could have so
much air in his lungs, and so much energy.
           
“What’re you talkin’ about Nipple? We can’t be ‘eard down this
street. Look around! None of ‘em wealthy folk.”
           
“It’s Nip. That’s not the point. What do