Finton Moon Read Online Free PDF

winked on and off for half a mile, while the flashing lights of an RCMP patrol car bathed everything in hysterical crimson.
    At first, Finton watched the show from the bottom of Moon’s Lane. Nearly everyone he knew was standing there, driven out of their homes and drawn to the flames, curiosity and fear etched on their faces. Some, like his father, were lured by compassion for a woman whose daughter was trying to burn her home to the ground. Most were drawn by the desire to witness the unveiling of Bridie Battenhatch.
    Strange visions too clear to be real presented themselves inside his head. Miss Bridie rocking back and forth, counting blue ceramic rosary beads with her spindly fingers, wheezing an old song from her blackened lungs. Beside her, a man genuflected on one knee, using one hand to protect his eyes from the overpowering smoke. He grabbed hold of the woman’s arm just as a flaming beam crashed from above and hurled him backwards, smacking his head on a table and leaving him dazed on the floor.
    Finton blinked—not exactly seeing, but imagining. He had these kinds of visions occasionally and they sometimes came true. Didn’t I dream this? he wondered in a voice that seemed outside himself. Blinking again to reset his focus, he identified his mother at the fringes of the crowd, peering into the fire, double wrapping her orange-lined navy parka around her as the wind riffled through the grey fur trim of her hood. She always seemed to be cold and alone. Just off to her right his mother’s sister-in-law, Aunt Lucy, leaned forward like a dying willow over her nine fatherless children who huddled like strewn petals at her feet. A quick scan of the crowd showed his best friend Skeet Stuckey smoking and sputtering a string of curse words; Winnie and Francis Minnow, arm in arm, chatting to each other in soft, calm voices; young Doctor Abel Adams; Davey Doyle, star pitcher of Clancy’s softball team, the Esso Extras; his mother’s Uncle Tim with the red cheeks and gleaming, bald head; and Albino Al Kelly with his older brother Lance, the bartender at Jack’s Place. Also guest starring were various teachers, particularly Father Power, who stayed in his car with the windows rolled up, as well as Miss Fielding and Miss Woolfred, who stood talking to each other, their eyes shining with fear. He also noted a murder of Crowleys that included his mortal enemy, Bernard. Behind the Crowleys stood a flock of Dredges, including the pretty one, Alicia, with the hungry eyes. Beside her was a gaggle of girls Finton knew from school. Tall, strong Dolly Worchester looked as if she could lead an army of Amazons into battle. But Mary Connelly, with her needle-thin body, seemed in perpetual need of a hug; he wished he had the nerve to offer her one.
    Standing atop the culvert where the river ran beneath the road, Finton observed the rolls of black smoke spewing out from the windows and eaves in an ominous cloud that extended as far as he could see, above all their heads and over his parents’ house at the crest of Moon’s Lane.
    A dark figure bolted out of the house and fell face forward onto the ground. It was his father, he quickly realized, who stumbled as if drunk, then rolled onto his back to suck the dense air into his lungs, his sweaty visage reflecting orange and black. Two men with worried expressions hovered over him. They kept looking at the house where billows of smoke poured out the broken front window and the open door.
    Sliding invisibly through the awestruck throngs, Finton sidled onto the ground beside his father.
    â€œShe won’t come out,” Tom Moon was saying. “Stubborn as they come, she is.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with ’er?” one of the men asked.
    â€œShe’s just sittin’ in her chair, rockin’ back and forth with everything going right to hell around her. ‘Let’s go, Miss Bridie,’ I says. ‘You’ll be burnt to death