Soulshine Read Online Free Page B

into the window near his bed. It was time to move on. It was already decided that today would be the day. In his mind, he wondered if he should finally stop the endless rambling. The Midwest was pleasant. He liked doing odd jobs on the farm, and getting paid under the table definitely had its advantages for him. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find places that provided room and board as well as work for income without having to provide legal working documents. But enough people had seen him around town for years. He had to leave before he had to answer to the suspicions that were sure to come.
    As Edward packed his belongings and prepared once again to steal away before anyone could spot him, he paused and clutched the small glass container in his hand. It was no bigger than an after-shave lotion bottle. He thought of Debbie, the farmer"s daughter. I owe her at least a hug and a goodbye.
    Edward looked out the window of his loft above the barn and saw Debbie walking out of the farmhouse. That was sometimes her strategic method of catchingEdward"s eye as he prepared to make his way down the steps to the barn and begin the morning"s chores. Edward drew a deep breath, put the bottle among his other belongings inside his duffle bag, slung the bag over his shoulder, and made his descent to the lower level.
    Debbie made her move into the barn as she heard Edward"s footsteps on the wooden steps. She expected him to be ready to start his chores as he usually did on any other day. She had a way of convincing Edward to postpone his work responsibilities in favor of some early morning fun. Usually, the memory of the previous evening was fresh in both of their minds, and the anticipation of the following night"s plans was generally the foremost topic of conversation.
    “Hey there , stranger,” flirted Debbie, kind of surprised to see Edward coming out of the barn with a duffle bag instead of staying inside the barn to get his work done early, as was his habit. Edward could not help but look at how much Debbie had grown in the past four years. She was not yet twelve when he first entered town. She was starting to develop as he started hanging around with her a couple of years later. Now she sported a beautiful body on the brink of sixteen. They had been good friends for the last two years. “Are you going somewhere this morning?”
    “Well,” managed Edward, “I was planning to see you before I took off for the day.”
“Aren"t you going to work for Daddy today?”
“Uh… no… I have something else I need to do today.” Edward knew that Debbie"s father would be away from the farm all day.
“Oh? Daddy never mentioned anything to me. That"s odd.”
“Well… uh… you know… I don"t think I got the chance to let him know.”
“Well, I was hoping we could fool around in the hay before you started working. Especially with Daddy not around and Mom always busy inside the house.”
The idea was tempting to Edward. It certainly would not be the first such romp between the two of them. “Oh, Deb, I needed to talk to you about...”
“And if we shut the barn doors, we could try doing it naked if you want.”
Edward closed his eyes and envisioned the scene. They had come dangerously close to doing just that a couple of months earlier. This was Debbie"s way of trying to changeEdward"s plans. She was extremely good ataccomplishing that. “Debbie, you"re not even sixteen yet.”
“Yeah… so? But how old do I look?”
“Um… somewhat older. But anything short of eighteen can get me in all sorts of trouble, and if we take all our clothes off, where do you think that will leadus?”
“All the way, I guess.” Debbie was ready. Before Edward and she started seeing each other, another older boy had shown her the ropes.
“Deb, I"m over twenty now!”
“It doesn"t bother me. If I wanted a sixteen-year-old boy, I would go out and get one. Besides, if you are worried about getting into trouble, it certainly won"t come from