Shine Your Light on Me Read Online Free

gave other students, much the same way the art room did, and both of them had offered him such hope, a chance for meaning in his life, a direction he could point his endless energy.
    All for naught.
    All a waste of time in the end.
    He set the timer and placed the bomb under Mr. Mackey’s desk. It would be a fitting end for the man. He was just like Bobby, not exceptional at what he did, mediocre if anything, and the world wouldn’t miss him. Bobby would though. He’d think about Mr. Mackey as he moved on with his life, think about the lessons he taught, and the patience he’d had, the easy-going smile, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes, the slap on the shoulder when a student created something that truly impressed him.
    He had given everyone creative freedom. Bobby was offering him the same. An early start, he figured, to find his place in the big workshop in the sky, all of Mr. Mackey’s unaccomplished dreams would finally be within his reach and he’d have an eternity to master his discipline.
    He backed away from the desk. The coffee mug on the top said #1 DAD!
    Bobby shook his head.
    There was no such thing.
    He left the woodshop and planted a bomb in the art room, then another in the Home Ec room. He avoided the man polishing the floors. He planted a bomb in the bathrooms on both sides of the school and dropped them into garbage containers he passed.
    There were only two places left, and both of them frightened him for different reasons.
    The girl’s locker room was off the back of the cafeteria on the south side of the building. He stood outside the door for several minutes, so deep in thought a noise behind him startled him. He expected to turn and see his father sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria, nearest the locker room, that knowing smile on his face, his large hands brandishing the paddle. There would be no moral light in his father’s eyes, only a cold certainty and a determination to correct his son of behavior he did not approve of.
    But his father wasn’t there, and he saw that a poster plastered to the wall had come free and banged a table across the cafeteria. He took a deep breath. He only had two bombs left and then he had to get out of there before his luck ran out.
    He pushed the door open. It was red, steel, heavy. His limbs shook. He hitched his backpack higher and exhaled as he crossed the threshold into a private place. It smelled so much different than the boy’s locker room. The scents of various perfumes, feminine deodorants, hair sprays, nail polish, bubble gum, baby powder, and other things he could not decipher, nearly overpowered him.
    The floor was cement like the boy’s room; the lockers were the same color red as the door. The shower stalls were partitioned. He grinned nervously and looked at the coach’s small office in the corner of the room closer to the door he’d passed through. There were rumors that she was a lesbian, and Bobby’s father said it was pretty disgusting if it was true, and Bobby, like many boys, wondered if she touched herself when she watched the girls strip after P.E., watched their bodies glow beneath the water, heard their laughter like some kind of siren call, and what kind of restraint she must have had to resist the temptation to bed one of those young lambs, because Ms. Mercedes was a fine looking woman and one most of the girls respected and tried to emulate. It wouldn’t have been the first time a teacher was caught in a relationship with a student, not at this school, or any other.
    Bobby imagined all the naked flesh that had moved through here, his girl Cindy among them, her pale, thin body, her stringy hair, her too far apart eyes, looking with envy and appreciation of the finer specimens among her peers. He felt sorry for her in a way. Cindy was just as much an outcast as he was. Her parents worked themselves to the bone just to pay the bills and didn’t have money left over to buy her nice clothes; her aunt cut her hair for