Breeds Read Online Free Page A

“Exercise. Although I don’t know why. All of this’ll melt in the spring.”
    Harry Shea smirked at that little nugget of Sammy logic and looked down over the continuing hill, until he saw white land blur with ice. The whole community had grown on the side of a large hill, almost a stunted mountain, that faced the waters of the Atlantic. Once a small but thriving fishing and farming town, it was now populated almost entirely by the same folks who grew up here, who watched their children move into St. John’s, out to Fort McMurray, or elsewhere, leaving the old folks behind. It wasn’t that Amherst Cove folks didn’t like the cities, it was more like they preferred their little bayside village. It was remote, quiet, and eternally home.
    “Snow seems to be pickin’ up,” Sammy observed.
    “Fuck the Jesus snow. All white and shit.”
    “Gotta clear it, though.”
    “ You gotta clear it. On Sally’s orders. All I gotta do is watch.”
    “Hm.” Sammy grunted, long desensitized to his friend’s bluntness. “Just wonderin’. Why couldn’t snow be, I dunno, more green? Or purple? Or even… polka dot?”
    Harry made side eyes at him.
    “Or even,” Sammy continued, “or even white with women’s breastuses on it? Just think. If it were like that, every guy’d be out shovelin’ it then. Be lookin’ forward to it. Course then, it’d only open up another problem.”
    “Yeah?”
    “We’d be all playin’ with it.”
    Shea shook his head in dismayed amusement. “The women folk wouldn’t be playing in it.”
    “Some might.”
    Harry conceded that point. “Could ye date the snow?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Wedlock?”
    “Might be possible. Hmmm, might be a stretch, though. Especially in the summer. Unless you had a freezer.”
    “Oh, well.”
    “Best t’keep at just snow tits.”
    Harry shook his head again. Where on God’s earth did Sammy come up with this stuff?
    “Perky little snow tits,” Sammy said dreamily.
    “All right, stop it now.”
    “Milky, too.”
    “There’s a hockey game on tonight,” Shea threw out, trying to change the subject.
    Sammy paused and turned his huge, white-flecked bifocals onto Harry. “So there is. Well, anyway, gotta shovel.”
    “Yer probably gonna make a couple sets of snow tits now, aren’tcha?”
    “No, probably not. Sally’s got the window open there and she’ll be checkin’ on me. Don’t want to haveta explain it all to her. She doesn’t appreciate our little conversations. Or the humor.”
    “She’s a big girl. She can handle it.”
    “Naw,” Sammy whispered as he leaned in. “Most women don’t have the same humor as guys do. No matter how funny the shit is.”
    “Perhaps,” Shea said, but he didn’t wholly agree.
    “Sammy!” a woman’s voice bawled, cutting the coolness of the scene. “I told you to clear the driveway so I can get on the road! I gotta be in Bonavista by twelve thirty.”
    “Yes, me love,” Sammy called back. Then to Harry, “I’ll be over later on.”
    “Yeah? Why?”
    “You got that batch of Pilsner ready to drink, don’tcha?”
    Shea started and shook his head once again. “You remembered that?”
    “You thought I forgot?”
    “I did.”
    “Well, now, I didn’t. Can’t have you drink all that beer alone. What kind of neighbor would I be? You just have the mugs and beer ready. Be over this afternoon, while Sally’s in Bonavista. I’ll even bring over the nachos and dip.”
    “What’s she doing over there?”
    “Gettin’ her hair done.”
    “Ah. Fair enough. All right. Seeya then. You got any of that cheese sauce?”
    “Yeaup. The mild kind, too.”
    “Ah, good. That medium is too damn spicy for me. Wicked heartburn last time. And me ass was on fuckin’ fire for half the day.”
    “No worries of that this time. I’ll bring over a tub of sour cream, too.”
    That did sound good, Harry mulled. “Seeya, then.” And he muddled off, heading for the top of the hill where he crossed the only road leading