BURYING ZIMMERMAN (The River Trilogy, book 2) Read Online Free Page A

deck while other tasks were
handled.
    Gilbert learned how to exploit these
opportunities. Moving quickly but never hurrying, he would carry
off a sack of potatoes or a few loaves of bread, while looking like
a kid who absolutely knew his way around and belonged on that boat.
That's what he was doing when he was caught in the act by Captain
Oliver Zimmerman in the summer of 1887 at age thirteen.
    Henry was on the canal that summer, and he
watched his father walk up behind the retreating boy and clasp both
of Gilbert's suspender straps in one large fist.
    "Where are you taking that watermelon, son?"
Captain Zimmerman was a barrel-chested man with a full beard. He
released Gilbert's suspenders and spun him around by the shoulder.
Without a trace of apprehension, Gilbert looked up at Captain Z and
then down at the melon in his hands. He'd been watching for a week
or so, and he knew that the watermelons were delivered to the
tied-up boats around two o'clock. When no one was on board, the
watermelon man would leave a melon on deck, then swing by an hour
or two later to collect payment from boats that wanted them, or
retrieve melons from boats that didn't.
    "I was just borrowing it," Gilbert said.
"Going to bring it back in a few minutes, with another one."
    Captain Zimmerman squinted. "How was you
fixing to do that?"
    Gilbert explained that he'd made a bet with a
boy he'd met on a boat at the other end of the dock, who'd boasted
that his daddy had just bought the biggest melon of the day.
Gilbert had scoffed and said he'd be back in a few minutes with a
melon that he reckoned was bigger – and then whoever was right
could keep both
    So, Gilbert explained, he'd been on his way
to win a free melon, half of which he intended to leave for the
Zimmermans.
    "And how was you going to pay for our melon,"
Captain Zimmerman said, "supposing that other boy is right?"
    "He won't be," Gilbert said ominously.
"That'd cost him more than a melon."
    Captain Zimmerman stared at the scrawny,
slate-eyed boy holding the watermelon, and maybe he saw a stray
version of Henry. He asked Gilbert his name and then told him that
he expected him back within fifteen minutes, and that he better not
be empty-handed. Gilbert marched down the dock with the melon,
passed a supply shed, and turned out of sight. If he'd looked back,
he might have noticed Henry following discreetly at a distance.
    When Henry saw Gilbert carry the melon into
what looked like a tavern down the block, he headed back to the
boat and told his father that Gilbert's story must have been a lie,
and that he had stolen their melon.
    "I reckon he'll pay for it," Captain
Zimmerman said. "One way or another."
    Two days later the Zimmermans had unloaded
their coal and were getting ready for the run back to Cumberland.
The watermelon man was back, and Captain Zimmerman told Henry to
keep an eye out for Gilbert, who might be traveling in his wake.
Henry stalked the melon cart from behind, and sure enough, there
was Gilbert, stepping onto an empty deck and then disembarking
moments later with a melon in his arms.
    Following instructions, Henry circled to
alert the vendor, who parked his cart and slipped back to apprehend
the melon thief and steer him to the Zimmermans' boat. Forty-eight
hours after their last encounter, Gilbert faced Captain Zimmerman
as if he was returning within his allotted fifteen minutes.
    "This man says I'm stealing your watermelon,
but I told him you said it was OK!"
    Captain Zimmerman took the melon from Gilbert
and paid the vendor for it. "Where do you live, son? I'd like a
word with your parents."
    Maybe Gilbert was hungry and foresaw a chance
at a meal, or maybe his instincts told him that Captain Zimmerman
was more of an opportunity than a threat, but for some reason he
guided Captain Z and Henry to his grandmother's house in
Georgetown. The Captain's conversation with her confirmed his
impressions. Without a father, Gilbert was slipping into an orbit
she couldn't monitor