Soul Mates Read Online Free Page A

assured with a wink.
    Tyler directed Jayson and Lilith to the backyard and ran up to his room to retrieve his air rifle from his closet. Superman stared at Tyler (accusingly he had thought) from the DC Comics poster which lined his closet door. Even the daring and brave Man of Steel didn’t think that Tyler was making a wise decision. 
    “It’s easy for you to judge, Superman, but Lilith is my Lois Lane,” Tyler expounded in a borderline diatribe, peeking over his shoulder to ensure he was alone. He was a bit embarrassed that he was speaking to a poster. It was Tyler’s version of the clichéd “Man-with-a-dilemma” scene seen in countless movies that usually involves a men’s room and a monologue into a bathroom mirror. Tyler fished the rifle out from the back of his closet, closed the closet door and left the room, but not before giving Superman one more fleeting glance over his shoulder.
    Tyler made one more stop, in the garage, to pick up a clear leaf bag full of empty soda cans (Herman the Hobo’s would-be cans) to shoot before he went to the backyard and found his friends outside eagerly awaiting his return.
    Herman the Hobo, as not only the immature neighborhood children would callously refer to him, but the less empathetic and sympathetic parents, was spry enough, not to get an actual job, but to go from house to house and collect empty cans and bottles from the neighborhood trash cans. He would have the consideration to retrieve the cans and bottles when they were left out by the curb, always being careful not to trespass. Tyler’s parents found this to be a symbiotic relationship in that it saved them a trip to the deposit machine at the local supermarket, where the machine would always jam or be full to capacity, and it also put some money into Herman’s pocket. So Ray and Cindy would leave the cans out by the curb for him…and hey, it was also good for the environment…triple threat!
    Jayson liked to talk a big game about how “fine-looking” he thought Lilith was and what he would like to do to her, which was rather graphic for a twelve year old. Not that he would have been able to actually  do  such things at his age, anyway. Well, maybe he could. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right? 
    It didn’t take a very perceptive person to see how uncomfortable Jayson was, spending time alone with Lilith in Tyler’s backyard. Tyler was the palpable glue that held together the trio that showed up to his house that day. Without Tyler there to take the flight-stick and direct the conversation towards a comfortable trajectory, Jayson was undoubtedly asking Lilith exciting questions pertaining to the weather or her favorite color. 
    Tyler had wondered what they had spoken about for the couple of minutes that he had left them to go get the rifle. He suspected that they were waiting as quietly as they were when he rejoined them. 
    “ There  he is! Oh, cool rifle!” Jayson exclaimed, sounding a little too excited and relieved, which all but confirmed Jayson’s discomfort. “Let me see it, Ty!”
    Jayson grabbed the rifle out of Tyler’s hands and began to aim it every which way while he made gunshot noises with his mouth, while pretending to pull the trigger. Jayson was twelve just like Tyler, but Tyler was a  much  more mature twelve than Jayson was.
    “Calm down, Jay, you’re gonna piss yourself. Let Tyler set up the stupid cans first, for Christ’s sake!” Lilith more than suggested. 
    Jayson looked down, embarrassed, and got a hold of himself while Tyler carried the bench over to the fence so he could set up the cans.
    “Wow, Tyler, you’re so strong!” Lilith placated, unbeknownst to Tyler. Tyler was a very smart boy and he would have suspected that it was highly unlikely that a good looking fourteen year old, such as Lilith, would give much of a care about how effortlessly he carried the bench over to the fence. Still, the shadow of doubt that remained about such speculation