Alabama Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

talk about any family?”
    â€œSaid I had a grandpappy that died. Talked about Momma a lot when he didn’t think I was listenin’—when he was workin’ on stuff and talkin’ to himself.”
    â€œMaybe you’ve got other relatives that hate the government. You might have someplace to go.”
    â€œI just want the money for that watch there.”
    Mr. Abroscotto raised his hands in the air. “All right,” he said. He opened the register and took some money from it. He put the bills, photographs, and the watch back in the box and shut the lid. “I’m not gonna take that watch your pap left you. I stuck some money in there with the rest of it. That should help you out. You can pay me someday when you get back from Alaska.”
    â€œThank you,” I said.
    â€œAnything you need in the way of supplies before you get goin’?”
    â€œNossir. I can get most everything I need from the forest.”
    â€œI reckon you can, Moon.”
    â€œI’ll see you later, then,” I said.
    â€œYou be careful.”
    I nodded.
    I saw Mr. Abroscotto through the store window as I walked back up the road. He had picked up the phone and was talking and watching me leave. I figured he called the law, so I tucked the box under my arm and ran for the trees.

 
6
    Dear Pap,
    I think the law is after me now, so I am going to start for Alaska tomorrow. I meant to ask Mr. Abroscotto if he had a map, but I had to whip up on him for talking meanabout you. I’m afraid if I go back again the law will be there waiting for me.
    Before I left he gave me some money and I added it to the money that you already had in the box. I don’t know how much it is because I haven’t counted it, but I didn’t have to sell your watch.
    He said you might have a brother, but I know you would have told me about that. He said you might have let me die if it was me that had broken my leg, but I know that’s not true, either.
    I’m trying to listen to the sounds outside, but I don’t think I’m as good at it as you are. I went out to take a leak a few minutes ago and there was a coon swimming around in the curing barrel. You’d have thought I’d have heard that.
    I wasn’t lonely today, but I am tonight. I wish there was someone else out here to talk to. Maybe you can talk to me soon if you get a chance.
    Love, Moon
    That night I started a small fire in the woodstove and burned the letter. After the letter was just ashes, I put out the fire so that no one would see the smoke. The only light left was that of the grease lamp we’d made in a can that flickeredand put shadows on the walls. I wondered if I’d ever have a place as nice when I got to Alaska. Then I tried to imagine what the person I would live with looked like. I wondered if any boys my age were there. I felt the loneliness creeping over me, and lay on the hide pile with my jacket covering me and my hat pulled down low. I hugged my knees to my chest and listened to the night sounds.
    Eventually the grease lamp went out and it was so dark that I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face. At one point I heard something moving outside and fear bolted through me and I hugged my knees tighter. It wasn’t like me to be scared of creatures moving in the night, but I wasn’t myself with all the loneliness in that dark hole.
    â€œPap,” I whispered, thinking that maybe he was out there. Maybe he was going to talk to me and make me feel okay again. I took off my hat so I could hear better and held my breath and listened. Whatever creature had been moving outside stopped.
    â€œPap, can you hear me?”
    I heard the creature scurry off through the leaves. Then I started thinking about the good times I’d had with Pap when we’d swim in the creek and make flutter mills and scratch tic-tac-toe in the dirt. All these memories poured on me like a waterfall until I was shaking and