Insomnia Read Online Free Page A

Satisfied?’ Heavyset asked, speaking directly to Ed again. ‘I ain’t Ray Joubert or that guy Dahmer after all. How ’bout that!’
    The look of confusion was back on Ed’s face, and when the thunder cracked overhead again, he cringed a little. He leaned over, reached a hand toward the barrel, then looked a question at Heavyset.
    The big man nodded to him, almost sympathetically, Ralph thought. ‘Sure, touch it, fine by me. But if it rains while you’re holdin a fistful, you’ll dance like John Travolta. It burns.’
    Ed reached into the barrel, grabbed some of the mix, and let it run through his fingers. He shot Ralph a perplexed look ( there was an element of embarrassment in that look as well, Ralph thought), and then sank his arm into the barrel all the way to the elbow.
    ‘Hey!’ Heavyset cried, startled. ‘That ain’t a box of Cracker Jack!’
    For a moment the crafty grin resurfaced on Ed’s face – a look that said I know a trick worth two of that – and then it subsided into puzzlement again as he found nothing further down but more fertilizer. When he drew his arm out of the barrel, it was dusty and aromatic with the mix. Another flash of lightning exploded above the airport. The thunder which followed was almost deafening.
    ‘Get that off your skin before it rains, I’m warning you,’ Heavyset said. He reached through the Ranger’s open passenger window and produced a McDonald’s take-out sack. He rummaged in it, came out with a couple of napkins, and handed them to Ed, who began to wipe the fertilizer dust from his forearm like a man in a dream. While he did this, Heavyset replaced the lid on the barrel, tamping it into place with one large, freckled fist and taking quick glances up at the darkening sky. When Ed touched the shoulder of his white shirt, the man stiffened and pulled away, looking at Ed warily.
    ‘I think I owe you an apology,’ Ed said, and to Ralph his voice sounded completely clear and sane for the first time.
    ‘You’re damn tooting,’ Heavyset said, but he sounded relieved. He stretched the plastic-coated tarpaulin back into place and tied it in a series of quick, efficient gestures. Watching him, Ralph was struck by what a sly thief time was. Once he could have tied that same sheetbend with that same dextrous ease. Today he could still tie it, but it would take him at least two minutes and maybe three of his best curse-words.
    Heavyset patted the tarp and then turned to them, folding his arms across the substantial expanse of his chest. ‘Did you see the accident?’ he asked Ralph.
    ‘No,’ Ralph said at once. He had no idea why he was lying, but the decision to do it was instantaneous. ‘I was watching the plane land. The United.’
    To his complete surprise, the flushed patches on Heavyset’s cheeks began to spread. You were watching it, too! Ralph thought suddenly. And not just watching it land, either, or you wouldn’t be blushing like that . . . you were watching it taxi!
    This thought was followed by a complete revelation: Heavyset thought the accident had been his fault, or that the cop or cops who showed up to investigate might read it that way. He had been watching the plane and hadn’t seen Ed’s reckless charge through the service gate and out to the Extension.
    ‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ Ed was saying earnestly, but he actually looked more than sorry; he looked dismayed. Ralph suddenly found himself wondering how much he trusted that expression, and if he really had even the slightest idea of
    ( Hey, hey, Susan Day )
    what had just happened here . . . and who the hell was Susan Day, anyhow?
    ‘I bumped my head on the steering wheel,’ Ed was saying,‘and I guess it . . . you know, it rattled my cage pretty good.’
    ‘Yeah, I guess it did,’ Heavyset said. He scratched his head, looked up at the dark and convoluted sky, then looked back at Ed again. ‘Want to make you a deal, friend.’
    ‘Oh? What deal is that?’
    ‘Let’s