Child of the Light Read Online Free Page A

deferentially to his father, he stepped inside. He did his best to block the view between the door and the curtain that led to the cellar stairs. Jacob Freund was busy showing a derby-hatted man a silver cigar-guillotine. He did not look toward the boys as Erich stole in behind Sol and disappeared behind the curtain.
    "The beadle had other business, so we came right back. We'll be downstairs cleaning up," Sol announced.
    His father nodded, gave him a cursory smile, and went back to his customer. A silver guillotine, Sol knew, would easily equal the value of whatever other products his father sold this day--or for the week, for that matter. Sol was angry with himself for having interrupted.
    He went behind the curtain but paused at the cellar door. He wanted to go down there and yet he did not. If his papa or Herr Weisser caught them playing in the sewer, they would be punished and he would be right back where he had been for so many weeks--in his room--alone.
    By the time he descended the steps into the cellar, however, he could hardly wait to push aside the crate they had left guarding the entrance to the sewer.   Their magical place, fearful yet inviting...especially after all the months cooped up across the street.
    While Erich stood holding and kissing the puppy, the dog squirming against the confinement, Sol heaved the crate away from the sewer's grate. It was blood-brown with corrosion and recessed into a limestone floor discolored by a century of cellar moisture seeping into the drain. Taking hold of the crowbar they had hidden there, he jammed it beneath the lip of the grate and, using the tool as a lever, pressed down on it with all his might. The grate did not budge.
    "Hurry up!" Erich said, hopping from one foot to the other as though he needed to use a bathroom. "Get the thing open."
    "I can't!"
    " I always open it easily," Erich said.
    "You do it, then! I'll hold the dog." Solomon was getting annoyed. He was confident of his brains but not his muscle, which was why he usually left feats of strength to Erich, even though Erich was the smaller of the two.
    Footsteps sounded above them.
    "The customer's leaving. Wonder if he bought the guillotine," Sol said.
    "Someone else," Erich said. "Coming into the shop."
    They kept quiet and listened. There was movement in the shop upstairs, more footsteps, the faint echo of raised voices.
    "Your papa," Sol said. "Hope to doesn't come down here for supplies."
    Erich glanced anxiously toward the cellar steps, then sharply nodded toward the crowbar. "Get it done." His lips looked tight.
    Holding down the crowbar with his foot, Sol gripped the edge of the grate and, grunting with the effort, began to lift. This time the grate creaked open. He gave it one last push and it thudded back against the limestone wall. After making sure the wire stems of his glasses were snugged behind his ears, he lowered himself into the hole.
    The cylindrical sewer was three meters deep--a long drop. The last time they had come down, the boys had worked two bricks loose from each side of the sewer wall, at midpoint, and jammed in a two-by-four to serve as a step. Still, it was further down than Sol remembered. His feet dangled in mid-air and panic seized him. What if--. His toes found the board and he reached for the dog. The action was premature. He lost his balance and had to jump onto the partially dismantled packing crates they had used to cover the slick sewer floor.
    The blackness smelled stale. He stayed crouched, his ears keened to the sound of dripping water and his eyes searching the darkness for--
    For what?
    Chiding himself for being afraid, he climbed onto the board. Balancing precariously, he reached up for the dog. He smiled as he dropped back down and cradled the puppy against his cheek. It felt warm and alive and somehow reassuring. When it licked his nose, he laughed and scratched it behind the ear.
    "Watch out below," Erich whispered. Quick-footed as he was quick-tempered, he