Tom Finder Read Online Free Page A

Tom Finder
Book: Tom Finder Read Online Free
Author: Martine Leavitt
Tags: FIC000000, book
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technically he hadn’t found it, since he’d had it all along.
    â€œUp with the sun, boy. Don’t lose the rhythms of the earth. That’s the first step to letting the street have you. You don’t want her to have you. She’s a bad mother, or worse.”
    â€œI’m tired. Go away.”
    â€œBet you’re hungry.”
    Tom rolled back and looked at Wolflegs.
    â€œGot an egg salad sandwich here if you’re awake.”
    Tom sat up. “Okay, I’m awake.”
    Wolflegs held out the wrapped sandwich. Tom’s hands shook as he unwrapped it. He was so thirsty that he didn’t think there was any spit left in him, but some came. He ate the whole thing in six bites.
    â€œYou’re here early,” Tom said with his mouth full. “Don’t you go home at night?”
    â€œMy son did not sleep in a bed last night, so I do not,” Wolflegs said.
    Tom’s throat was so dry that he swallowed with difficulty. “I’m gonna drink that river now,” he said.
    Wolflegs shook his head. “That’s white man’s water. You haven’t had anything to drink?”
    â€œThere’s no fountains anywhere.”
    â€œSome of the buildings have washrooms open to the public. They have fountains for the tourists.”
    â€œWhere do the tourists go?”
    â€œCome. I’ll show you.”
    Tom folded his blanket over a branch. He was afraid to walk in the Core with someone as tall as Samuel Wolflegs, with someone who had long black and silver braids, with someone who for sure would be seen. But his thirst was greater than his fear.
    He needn’t have feared.
    â€œThey don’t see you either,” Tom said as they walked.
    â€œThey don’t want to,” Wolflegs said. “Chicken skins, all of them.”
    â€œI think they are pretty. They look good—I mean, they look like they would be good.”
    Wolflegs grunted. “Money can make you look moral.”
    Tom wondered what he meant. “How long have you been looking for Daniel?” He needed to talk to take his mind off his thirst, though his speech sounded sticky.
    â€œSince last winter,” Wolflegs said. “He’s left before, when we fought. But this time demons got him.”
    â€œDemons?”
    â€œBad medicine. Demons. They say drugs made him crazy, but it was his demons made him take the drugs. It was demons made him take more and more. Some say he’s dead. He’s not dead. If he was dead, I would have seen his ghost.”
    â€œThere’s no such thing as demons.”
    Wolflegs looked at him. “That’s what Daniel said. He didn’t know about demons, about bad magic, and so he wouldn’t use the good magic I had to give him.”
    â€œGood magic, eh?” Tom said. He tried to smile, but his cheeks didn’t work. He tried again. Nothing. He guessed he’d forgotten how to smile, too. “You mean magic like the power I have to be a Finder?” He would have laughed if his cheeks had worked and his throat wasn’t as dry as the sidewalk.
    â€œYes, like that,” Samuel said.
    Tom said nothing. His legs were stiff and his tongue coated, and he was walking beside a medicine man who believed in magic, and if gravity had a thumb he was sure it was pressing down on him right now.
    â€œYou should find your way home,” Wolflegs said almost gently. “I am wrong to keep you here, looking for Daniel.”
    Tom almost said, “Don’t worry, I’m not looking for Daniel,” but something stopped him. He didn’t know many things about himself, but he knew he was “nice.” The candy had said so, and now it was written down in his notebook. Nice was pretty vague. How good did you have to be to be nice? Did you just have to not say mean things? Or did you have to find people’s kids for them?
    â€œWhere is home for you, Tom?” Samuel asked.
    â€œI don’t know,”
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