Mercury Man Read Online Free

an envelope.He wrote the Harbour Street address on it and stuck on a stamp. Retrieving one of the
Heavy Metal
magazines from the floor, he carefully hid the letter in it.
    If there’s a porthole, I’ll find it
, he told himself. He smiled at his own obsession. Maybe he didn’t really believe there were such things as portholes, but the idea fascinated him, and the game of trying to find one was irresistible. Tom loved the thrill of pretending. He remembered a few weeks before in the city park, throwing a stone at a tree trunk.
If the stone doesn’t hit the trunk I’ll die tomorrow
, he had told himself.
My mother will die. Terrorists will take over the world. The planet will be hit by a huge meteor.
He didn’t believe any of this, but there was a fascination in pretending. It invested the act of throwing the stone with huge excitement. The throw suddenly took on an awesome significance and put him in touch with supreme power. He was transported to the world of the Greek gods, powers who could change human lives by a single gesture and who made up their own rules about the universe. (When the stone missed, he decided on a best two out of three — a godlike privilege.)
    In the tiny kitchen he began to wash up the lunch dishes. This was one of his jobs on his days off. Take out the garbage, sweep the floor, keep the kitchen in decent order — his mother wasn’t very demanding. Karen Blake worked five days a week, got home at six, and made dinner for them both. On many days she used the microwave, bringing something from the supermarket, but sometimes she spent an hour doing the cooking. Tom didn’t like those times — he was happier with themicrowave food — and she was always disappointed when he got impatient or disliked what she fixed for him.
    They got on pretty well, although they sometimes had problems. She was always complaining that he never talked to her, but what was he going to talk about? She wouldn’t want to hear jokes about sex or any filthy story — which is what the guys passed around — and she wasn’t interested in the movies he watched, or in the science fiction books he read. There wasn’t much left to get into, really, although they sometimes had talks about his “plans.”
    â€œDo you have any plans, Tom?” she would ask, meaning what did he want to be when he was thirty-five, but of course he had no idea.
    He was hoping that Grandpa wasn’t kidding, that he really had the money to pay for college or university. Of course he didn’t know what he wanted to study — it was too soon for that. And there were still some roadblocks up ahead — calculus and economics, for example.
    The thought of calculus made him feel a little sick, so he was glad when the phone rang.
    â€œHi, it’s Pete,” the voice said. Tom perked up. He and Pete played pool, and he waited for the usual “Wanta go for it?” It didn’t come, though. Pete had something else on his mind.
    â€œI got a new job,” Pete told him. “Bim might get one, too.”
    â€œI can’t believe he came back to the city,” Tom said. “Where are all these jobs coming from? A new McDonald’s?”
    â€œAre you kidding? Those are joe jobs. Naw, this is with Fabricon. Haven’t you heard? They’re hiring all sorts of kids. Steady work, discounts on computers. It’s the greatest. You should go for it — all you have to do is call them.”
    â€œI can’t believe this. Don’t you remember when we tried them at the beginning of the summer? They practically threw us out. They said they only hired through the work-study program. They weren’t even friendly.”
    â€œEverything’s changed. They’re looking for high school students now. Not only the nerds — everybody. You should quit that smelly diner and get over there.”
    â€œI can’t do that. They gave me the job