The Day the Siren Stopped Read Online Free

“but, I have to admit I like it, too.” 
     
    Then, he added, “You from around here?”
     
    “Guess it shows,” Kathy Mae said smiling shyly.  “I can guess you're not.”
     
    “Me, I was born and bred in the Ozark’s south of here a little ways,” he answered. 
     
    “I have never been to the Ozark area,” she continued, glad to involve him in any kind of conversation.  “I had a school trip that was going there once, but I was sick that day, and couldn’t make it.”
     
    “Well, that is something,” he said flirting unabashedly, “If you had made that trip, I might've met you sooner.  So far, I like everything I've seen in this neck of the woods,” Mason said, laying his hand on the counter next to hers, almost touching her as he leaned on his forearm relaxing casually.
     
    “So, what brings you to these parts?” she inquired, “Do you work in construction or something?” 
     
    “Nope, I train camels,” he answered, smiling, expecting the usual look of surprise.  He couldn't wait to see her astonished expression and what it would do to her soft doe eyes.
     
    “Really, camels?” she laughed, “Camels in the Ozarks?  Are you teasing me?” 
     
    Kathy had never heard such a crazy idea in her whole life.  She had heard of training horses, but camels in Missouri?
     
    “No really,” he insisted convincingly, “I train them and just moved them here to Nevada where I'm starting my own exotic animal farm.  I used to work for a bigger company, traveling across the country, using the animals for rides, petting zoo’s and once I even raced them in California. They are really wonderful animals to work with, as long as you don't get stepped on or spit upon. Now, I've decided to branch out on my own.” 
     
    “Well, that is pretty amazing,” she commented sincerely, “I sure would love to see them some time.”
     
    As Kathy smiled, and seeing Mrs. Wade through the front window, she realized her break time was over.  She wondered if she would be in trouble for fraternizing with a client, or if she might become an object of jesting if Mrs. Wade comprehended what had been happening beneath the surface.  No doubt she was the type to notice such things.
     
    “I have to go back to work,” she said bruskly, hoping he would understand her fears.  “Everyone is coming back from lunch.  It was nice meeting you.  Hope you like your new house, Mr. Wheelwright.”
     
    “Call me Mason,” he insisted, “And, actually, I don’t think I will be hanging around the new house that much.  That is my dad and stepmother’s place.  I sleep out with my animals in the trailer.  I enjoyed talking with you Kathy Mae,” he said, winking with his back to the door so that Mrs. Wade, entering, would not see it.
     
    “Oh, Mr. Wheelwright,” Lois Wade said to his back, “I was going to mail those papers to you.  Did you get everything you needed?”
     
    He tipped his hand and nodded affirmatively without breaking his stride.  Obviously he did not care to enter into any kind of conversation with her.
     
    “Girl, you okay?” she said, looking at Kathy Mae.  “You look little flushed.  Did you screw up something?  I told Phillip that it was too soon to tell if you would work out.  You never even had your drug test yet.  You aren’t on some hopped-up drugs are you?”
     
    “No ma’am, I think I'm a little hungry,” she said, remembering the promised Subway sandwich.
     
    Mrs. Wade scrunched her piercing blue eyes at Kathy Mae to give her a proper examination, then tossed the food package on the desk.   It was supposed to be turkey with Swiss but looked like the lunch meat combo.  She didn't care.  Food didn't matter to her, not today anyway.
     
    “You can take it in the back room and eat it,” she said, rather sharply for someone gifting food.  “You deserve a lunch break, by law.” 
     
    “When you have finished lunch,” she continued, “I'll explain the filing