Boys of Blur Read Online Free PDF

mother looked at him, surprised. “About coaching. About staying here.”
    “He told you?”
    “Not exactly,” Charlie said.
    His mother’s eyes narrowed. “What do you think?”
    Charlie shrugged. “Mack wants to. You don’t want to. And I don’t get to vote.”
    Natalie smacked Charlie’s shoulder and smiled, lips tight. “Mack would die for us, Charlie. I can die just a little bit for him. There’s nothing for him back in Buffalo. He hates it. Showing up to sign jerseys for lines of old fans? Plus, he loves the idea of coaching you when you’re a little older.
If
you want to play,” she added quickly. “You don’t have to. But you’d be great.” She brushed a school of dirt crumbs off the bed. “I want Mack to be happy, Charlie. When I married him, I married his history, his roots, everything that makes him
him
. And when he married me—”
    “He got a white kid.”
    “Don’t sell yourself short.” Mack stepped into the doorway, smiling as he spoke. “You’ve got some freckles.”
    “Molly and I are flying back to Buffalo to pack up some things,” Natalie said to Charlie. “We’ll be back down ina week. You can come with us or you can stay here with Mack.”
    “We’re really moving here?” Charlie looked from his mother to his stepfather. “Seriously?”
    Molly muscled her way into the room between Mack’s knees.
    “Through the football season,” Mack said. “Then we’ll see.”
    “What about school?” Charlie asked. “Can I skip the rest of the year?”
    Natalie rolled her eyes.
    “Homeschool me!” Charlie said. “Just sign me up with Cotton’s mom. He’s homeschooled.”
    Mack grinned. “Boy, you don’t know what you’re asking. Now, are you staying or going? Your mom could use you back home, but I could use you, too. Got to find a car, a house, everything.”
    Molly climbed up onto the bed, bounced once, and then stood, studying her brother. “Charlie, take a bath!” She pointed toward the bathroom. “Now! You take a bath!”
    Charlie tried to think about Buffalo, about school and his bedroom and the bike he had left in the garage. But his mind slipped quickly back to the cane, to this place with the thick black muck and burning fields where both of his fathers had grown up, where Charlie had already seen things that he would never forget.
    “I’ll stay,” Charlie said.
    Mack nodded. Natalie kissed Charlie on the head, then messed up his hair. Molly poked him on one dirty kneecap.
    The goodbyes were quick. Two suitcases left and two suitcases stayed. Charlie got into the shower and watched the night before wash off him, swirling in a miniature swamp between his feet before draining away into even deeper darkness.
    The water cleared. The tub whitened. Steam flushed the last traces of that smell from his nostrils but not from his mind. It stuck to him like fear from a nightmare, like one of the dark scars in his memory that could never fade. He had buried those memories deep and left them undisturbed. But the stench on the mound had torn them loose. Feelings had exploded inside him without asking his permission, and their sour tracks still ached behind his breastbone.
    Charlie shoved his face in the water. Feelings would go away. There were other things to think about. A new town. A week with Mack. Normally that would be exciting. But panthers? A grave robber? And that shadow …
    Charlie tapped the faucet hotter and hotter until it was almost painful.
    He was still there when the sheriffs banged on the motel room door.

Charlie jumped into fresh shorts and tugged a black T-shirt down over damp skin. He was alone. Mack and the sheriffs had already gone down to wait for him in the parking lot.
    Charlie felt like hopping out the motel room window and taking off. But that wasn’t a real option. He fought to get his socks onto his wet feet and then stepped most of the way into his shoes, crushing the backs under his heels. Good enough. He’d fix them later.
    Charlie