thing, and only Graham’s face can pull CJ’s eyes from it. His brother’s eyes are wild. A single rivulet of sweat runs down his cheek. It occurs to CJ to scream, but he discovers that he cannot find breath enough.
His brother is at his side in three steps and then the larger boy is on top of CJ, his full weight resting on CJ’s chest, and he lowers his face until it is inches from CJ’s. CJ doesn’t know which is worse— the feeling of oxygen pushed from his body or having to look into his brother’s eyes.
Graham leans even closer. CJ can smell him—the sweat and dirt of the day that he hasn’t yet washed off. And this person who is his brother seems like a stranger—someone else besides the boy he’s grown up with, yet also a fully formed version of something he is in the process of becoming.
The silence in the room is absolute when Graham says, “If you tell a single soul, I’ll kill you.” For emphasis he holds the knife to CJ’s cheek. The younger boy hears a whimper, realizes it is himself, and he silences it when he feels the knife point push into his skin.
In a few seconds Graham is gone, and only then does CJ release the sobs that have been building since Graham pulled the trigger; only he keeps them quiet, the sole sound that of the bed rocking with the heaving of his shoulders.
Chapter 17
CJ felt unworthy of the honor that had been bestowed upon him, but that didn’t keep him from enjoying one of the more perfect evenings it was his pleasure to have experienced. Night had fully descended, and Artie stoked the fire that kept the growing chill away for a while longer. In truth, CJ wouldn’t have minded the cold snuggling in a little closer, reaching down his jacket and running icy fingers along his spine. A light chill always made crawling beneath the blankets a little nicer, a bit more rewarding.
Thor lay next to CJ’s chair, exhausted with his fill of chasing rabbits and squirrels, and eating half a bag of marshmallows that CJ had made the mistake of leaving out on the porch while he and Artie were inside. Beyond the crackling fire, the only sounds were the dog’s snoring and a lone owl that CJ guessed was to his southeast, maybe twenty or thirty yards away.
When he was finished with the fire, which he’d determined required another log, Artie leaned back in the camp chair and pulled the pipe from his mouth.
“Is five thirty alright for you?” he asked—the first words either of them had spoken in thirty minutes. “I’m too old to do that 4:00 a.m. stuff anymore.”
“Five thirty’s just fine,” CJ said.
At the sound of his master’s voice, Thor raised his head a fraction, but it wasn’t a few seconds more before sleep had retaken him.
“I figure we’ll head south toward the Onochooie. There’s a bluff about a quarter mile from the water. With any luck we’ll get one early.”
“Not too early,” CJ said, his words slow in coming. “Get one too early and there’s no time to recover from the hike in.”
Artie chuckled. “You make a good point.” He tapped the pipe once in his palm and then put it back in his mouth.
The honor to which CJ felt unequal was a historic happening in the town of Adelia. Artie had closed Kaddy’s on a business day. Right now, there was a sign on the door that, when morning light came, was likely to draw a crowd, if only to gaze in wonder at the two words Gone Hunting. It had been written with black marker on a piece of cardboard, and there was nothing in the handwriting that signified the writer was sorry for the inconvenience. To the contrary, the large, hastily scribed block letters conveyed the idea that if you minded the store’s proprietor taking a Monday off to hunt, then you could just take your business elsewhere.
CJ, who had not been in town long enough to grasp the full significance of the event until he’d asked Artie where the Closed sign was, only to learn that there wasn’t one, was grateful beyond words at the gesture.
It had been Artie’s idea, and less of an idea than an order. When CJ came back from the house on Lyndale, Artie had intuited his need for some kind of diversion, which meant closing the hardware store. He’d simply told CJ they