The Falls Read Free

those tourists put food on our table and a roof over our heads. I knew that—and I knew what it was like to have neither. We lived here because those people, those tourists, just kept on coming, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year . . . to see some water falling over some rocks.
    Carefully I crossed the street, threading my way through the traffic, watching out for those drivers who were too busy looking around trying to see the Falls to watch where they were going. I cut down an alley that led me away from the bustle of the business district and onto my street.
    The traffic sound faded away but I could still hear a faint roar—the sound of the Falls. There was no place in town you could go to escape that sound. I read once where a long time ago, the winter was so cold that a massive ice dam choked off the river and no water could get through—so the Falls stopped falling. It was the middle of the night but the sound—or I guess really the lack of sound, the silence— woke people up. And they got out of their beds and left their houses and went and stared at the rocks, the place where the Falls
was
, but
wasn’t
. Finally, after hours, while everybody in the entire town stood there watching, the water broke through the ice and rushed down the dry riverbed and roared over the Falls. Man, even I would have driven days and days to see
that
happen.
    I walked down the long driveway of a house. I had to go to the back door—the door that led into the part of thehouse that my friend Timmy and his father lived in. I knocked on the door and listened. There was no answer. I knocked louder. Even though it was almost eleven I was sure I was waking him up. He didn’t need to sleep any more. I started to pound on the door and—
    â€œKeep your shirt on!” I heard a voice yell from behind the door. It opened up. It was Timmy. “Hey, Jay, man . . . what are you doing here?”
    â€œWhat do you think I’m doing?” I asked. “I’m here to see you.”
    â€œYou woke me up, man,” Timmy said, as he stretched and rubbed his eyes.
    â€œYou’re already dressed,” I pointed out.
    â€œI went to sleep in my clothes,” he said. “It saves a lot of time in the morning. So, why are you pounding on my door so early?”
    â€œEarly? It’s practically noon,” I said, smudging the truth by an hour or so. “Come on and I’ll buy you breakfast.”
    â€œBreakfast?” Timmy asked, and he perked up. “Like bacon and eggs?”
    â€œLike a coffee and a donut at the Donut Hole.”
    â€œEven better. Let’s go.”
    â€œDon’t you want to wash up or change your shirt?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s not
my
shirt that’s dirty,” he said, pointing down at my T-shirt, which had come untucked again, revealing the stain. “Let’s go.” Timmy slammed the door shut behind him.
    â€œDon’t you have to lock it?” I asked.
    â€œWhy? There’s nothing in there worth stealing. So again, what are you doing up so early?”
    â€œAgain, it’s not early, and second, I was already out.”
    â€œOut where? Wait . . . did you go see that girl . . . what’s her name?”
    â€œHer name is Candice, and yeah, I did.”
    â€œStupid. You gotta play it cool. You should have waited a day or two before you went chasing her,” Timmy said.
    â€œLike I need to take advice about girls from you,” I chided him.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with taking it from me?” he asked. “I get more than my share of the babes . . . actually, I get some of
your
share as well. You’re just lucky I didn’t decide I wanted that little Candice girl for myself.”
    â€œYou? She’s got way too much class for you!”
    â€œYeah, right. So how did it go?” Timmy asked.
    â€œNot good.”
    â€œShe blew you