Brainstorm Read Online Free PDF

happened and she was hurt and all alone with no way
to call for help? When no response was forthcoming, I took a couple of steps
into the dark room and slid my hand over the wall, found a switch, and snapped
on the light. “Hello? Harley’s grandmother?” Thunder snapped in the distance,
and the first raindrops splattered against the windows.
    The living room was neat as a pin, but there was no sign
of an elderly woman. Maybe that neighbor had come by and invited her next door
until the storm blew over. That would be a good thing. But Harley’s grandmother
could also be in the other room, unable to answer me; I ventured further into
the space and called out again with no luck.
    I moved forward, hoping with every step, that I wouldn’t
find her on the ground. Had she fallen and hit her head? Had a heart attack?
Mixed up her medications? I spun out scenes of a little old woman meeting her
Maker in a series of awful ways because no one had been around to help. Stop! I chastised myself. I continued
on, but found no evidence that an elderly person even lived here. There was
only one bedroom, and just one bed. Had I come to the wrong house? I looked in
the closet and recognized several hippie-type pieces that I’d seen Harley wear,
alongside an array of men’s T-shirts and sweatshirts. Confused, and more than a
little curious, I peeked into the dresser drawers and found men’s jeans, socks
and boxers. What the hell?
    In the small bathroom, toiletries for both sexes crowded
the top of a tiny table beside the sink, but I saw no medications one would
expect to find in the home of an elderly woman, especially one who had as many
doctor’s appointments as Harley had led me to believe. I quickly made my way
back through the house and outside, leaving the front door unlocked, as I had
found it.
    I was overcome with disbelief and a feeling of deep
betrayal; Harley had been lying to me all this time. But why? And when she’d
said she was taking her grandmother to all of those doctor’s appointments,
where had she actually been going? She didn’t even have a grandmother – at
least not one that lived with her.
    As I pulled into a parking space in front of Krabby
Kirk’s, I noticed that the salon next door was open, and I went in hoping to
find Lisa alone. She was stocking hair products, but stopped when she saw me.
    “Oh, boy, what happened to you?” she asked.
    “I look that bad?”
    “Well, you’re all wet for one thing. Don’t you own an
umbrella? I’ll be here for a little while longer. Have a cup of tea and keep me
company.”
    I ran my fingers through my wet hair. “No tea, thanks.
I’ll just sit here for a few minutes,” and I lowered myself into one of the
pedicure chairs and turned on the vibrating back. “Better,” I said.
    After telling her about Harley, Lisa said, “Come with me.
I have to bring up two more boxes from the basement – it’ll go faster if you
help. Then we can grab an early dinner next door, if you feel like it.”
    I groaned, but turned off the chair’s soothing vibrations
and followed her. “I didn’t even know there was a basement in this building.”
    “It’s awful,” she complained. “I hate it. It’s pitch black and it takes me forever to find the chain
to the light bulb.”
    “So that’s why you want me to help,” I laughed, “you’re
afraid of the Boogey Man.” But as we descended into almost perfect darkness, I
began to see her point. I reached for the back of her shirt and held on to it
until she finally found and pulled the chain. The swinging bulb cast writhing
shadows over the stairs and the cobweb-covered walls, and the dirt floor felt
strange under my feet. “Let’s get the boxes and get out of here,” I said.
    “It’s no easier going up after the light is out!” she
groaned. Since I needed both hands to carry the cumbersome box, I could no
longer hang onto her shirt, but I followed as close to her as I could. “Here’s
the first step,” she said,