Insomnia Read Online Free

the rear of the truckbed, yanked one of the ropes free, and peeled back a corner of the tarpaulin. Beneath it were four pressboard barrels, each marked WEED-GO . ‘Organic fertilizer,’ Heavyset said, his eyes flicking from Ed to Ralph and then back to Ed again. He touched the bill of his West Side Gardeners cap. ‘I spent the day workin on a set of new flower-beds outside the Derry Psych Wing . . . where you could stand a short vacation, friend.’
    ‘Fertilizer?’ Ed asked. It was himself he seemed to be speaking to. His left hand rose slowly to his temple and began to rub there. ‘Fertilizer?’ He sounded like a man questioning some simple yet staggering scientific development.
    ‘Fertilizer,’ Heavyset agreed. He glanced back at Ralph and said, ‘This guy is sick in the head. You know it?’
    ‘He’s confused, that’s all,’ Ralph answered uneasily. He leaned over the side of the truck and rapped a barrel-top. Then he turned back to Ed. ‘Barrels of fertilizer,’ he said. ‘Okay?’
    No response. Ed’s right hand rose and began to rub at his other temple. He looked like a man sinking into a terrible migraine.
    ‘Okay?’ Ralph repeated gently.
    Ed closed his eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, Ralph observed a sheen in them he thought was probably tears. Ed’s tongue slipped out and dabbed delicately first at one corner of his mouth and then the other. He took the end of his silk scarf and wiped his forehead, and as he did, Ralph saw there were Chinese figures embroidered on it in red, just above the fringe.
    ‘I guess maybe –’ he began, and then broke off. His eyes widened again in that look Ralph didn’t like. ‘Babies!’ he rasped. ‘You hear me? Babies! ’
    Ralph shoved him back against his car for the third or fourth time – he’d lost count. ‘What are you talking about, Ed?’ An idea suddenly occurred to him. ‘Is it Natalie? Are you worried about Natalie?’
    A small, crafty smile touched Ed’s lips. He looked past Ralph at the heavyset man. ‘Fertilizer, huh? Well, if that’s all it is, you won’t mind opening one of them, will you?’
    Heavyset looked at Ralph uneasily. ‘Man needs a doctor,’ he said.
    ‘Maybe he does. But he was calming down, I thought . . . could you open one of those barrels? It might make him feel better.’
    ‘Yeah, sure, what the heck. In for a penny, in for a pound.’
    There was another flash of lightning, another heavy blast of thunder – one that seemed to go rolling all the way across the sky this time – and a cold spackle of rain struck the back of Ralph’s sweaty neck. He glanced to his left and saw Dorrance Marstellar standing at the entrance to the picnic area, book in hand, watching the three of them anxiously.
    ‘It’s gonna rain a pretty bitch, looks like,’ Heavyset said, ‘and I can’t let this stuff get wet. It starts a chemical reaction. So look fast.’ He felt around between one of the barrels and the sidewall of his truck for a moment, then came up with a crowbar. ‘I must be as nutty as he is, doin this,’ he said to Ralph. ‘I mean, I was just goin along home, mindin my business. He hit me .’
    ‘Go on,’ Ralph said. ‘It’ll only take a second.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Heavyset replied sourly, turning and setting the flat end of the crowbar under the lid of the nearest barrel, ‘but the memories will last a lifetime.’
    Another thunderclap rocked the day just then, and Heavyset did not hear what Ed Deepneau said next. Ralph did, however, and it chilled the pit of his stomach.
    ‘Those barrels are full of dead babies,’ Ed said. ‘You’ll see.’
    Heavyset popped the lid on the end barrel, and such was the conviction in Ed’s voice that Ralph almost expected to see tangles of arms and legs and bundles of small hairless heads. Instead, he saw a mixture of fine blue crystals and brown stuff. The smell which rose from the barrel was rich and peaty, with a thin chemical undertone.
    ‘See?