The Blue Between the Clouds Read Online Free

married.
    The schoolyard was like Main Street after the war. Everybody rushed up to see my head. Jimmy Kranz offered me a nickel if I would take off the bandage.
    â€œWorth more than a nickel,” I said.
    Then everybody wanted to see it. Two Moons collected the money and told the story of how it happened.
    â€œMe and Matt was out after some bandit coyotes, them ones that been killin’ off Hansens’ chickens. Well anyway, we run into a whole pack of ’em in thick oak brush. Now, coyotes don’t normally attack people, but seein’ as they were trapped, I guess they thought it was their only way out. I picked off three of them, and Matt here shot one and clubbed one down with his rifle butt before he was throwed to the ground, where he hit his head.”
    It wasn’t exactly how I would’ve told it, but I had to go along.
    â€œI shot three of the devils, Two Moons,” I said.
    â€œThat’s right,” he said. “I forgot about that sickly one you shot first.”
    Everybody was like they were in a trance, the way they get at the movie house. Two Moons had collected seventy-three cents and probably would’ve collected more if Esther wouldn’t have started to laugh.
    â€œAhhh, tell ’em the real story, boys,” she said.
    I glared at her like an angry bull, but she didn’t pay me much attention.
    â€œC’mon, Matt. Tell ’em how you and Two Moons here were really runnin’ from me.”
    The crowd gasped and turned quickly to Esther.
    â€œYou know,” she said. “Tell ’em how you sneaked in my room and were playin’ with my dolls. How I caught you, and you tried to run away and fell down the stairs.”
    Everybody busted out laughin’. They started pushin’ me and Two Moons, and grabbed their money back. We swore right then that we would get Esther so bad she would remember it the rest of her life. Revenge was all we could think about for most of the day.
    It wasn’t until Miss Alexander started talkin’ about Icarus that we cooled down.
    You see, we were talkin’ about Greek stories, mythology and all. And Icarus, he had this father named Daedalus. They both lived on this island way out in the sea. I suppose Daedalus got a bit tired of that island, ’cause he started thinkin’ of ways to get off. Must’ve been before good ships and all. Anyway, he made these huge wings out of feathers and wax so he could come and go as he pleased. Well, he got older, and he wanted his son Icarus to feel the wonders of flight. So he passed along some wings and a little advice. “Don’t go flyin’ too close to the sun,” he said. “It’s hot up there and the wax will melt. Your wings will fall apart and you’ll drop faster than a plucked chicken.” Somethin’ like that. Well, of course Icarus didn’t listen. He got to flyin’ around and the thrill overtook him, and he flew higher and higher until the sun melted the wax and he fell straight into the ocean and drowned.
    You see, I figured the only way out of Thistle was to go to war, or to bury myself in a mine. “I ain’t gonna spend the rest of my days in a cave,” I said to Two Moons after school. “And I sure don’t feel like dyin’ in someone else’s country.”
    Two Moons was quiet. He didn’t talk much about himself and what he wanted to do. But I could tell he had somethin’ to prove, I just wasn’t sure what it was yet.
    â€œIt can’t be so tough to make us a pair of wings,” I said to Two Moons. “It’s got to be easier than makin’ an airplane.”
    â€œThere are bad spirits in the sky,” Two Moons said.
    â€œBad spirits?” I said. “What are you talkin’ about?”
    â€œThe gods made us all a place to live. To trespass the skies would be bad luck. We don’t belong there,” Two Moons said.
    â€œYou sure changed