Harlot's Moon

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Book: Harlot's Moon Read Online Free PDF
Author: Edward Gorman
Tags: Suspense, Mystery & Crime
that I'd be picking Susan up in half an hour.
    I liked talking to the nuns. They brought back good memories of my Catholic schooldays. The ones I'd known were all the best kind of religious people — selfless, charitable and willing to help in even the most extreme situations. The priests got the glory but, in many cases, the nuns did a lot of the work.
    Sister Ellen stood on the front steps. She wore a blue business suit and a white blouse and oxfords. No habit. Sister Ellen was the one who'd called me when one of the local TV stations had run a piece about me and my bi-plane. She'd said that the hospital was caring for a very sweet little girl who had cerebral palsy. Her name was Susan and she was nine, and she had been totally transfixed by the TV story on the barnstormer. Would I consider taking her up in it?
    I'd taken her up the last five Thursdays running. In between times, we'd also gone to a couple of movies, a miniature golf course, and out to one of the malls where a dance contest was being held. I suppose, at least in some ways, Susan was the kid my late wife Kathy and I had never had. She also gave me the freedom of being concerned about somebody other than myself. That's the nice thing you get from caring about somebody else — you're able to escape the prison of your own ego. At least for a time.
    Sister walked her over to my car, helped her up inside, and then waved goodbye. Susan wasn't always strong. Today she looked exhausted.
    "You sure you're all right to go flying?" I said.
    I observed her as we drove. She looked paler than I'd ever seen her. I got scared when I was around her. I knew how easily life could slip away.
    I asked her again if she felt okay.
    "I'm just a little tired is all, Robert. But please let's go up, all right?"
    How could I say no?
    "You been behaving yourself?"
    She smiled. "Uh-huh."
    "Haven't robbed any banks lately?"
    She giggled. "Not that I can remember."
    "Burned down any buildings?"
    "Nope."
    "Well, you really have been staying out of trouble. I'm proud of you."
    "Is Felice going to be here today?"
    "Not today, honey. Maybe next week."
    "How come?"
    "Oh, she's just got other things to do."
    Felice was a big hit with Susan. She'd come out to the airport on three different afternoons. All three times, Felice ended up drinking a little too much in the evenings. Sometimes the unfairness of life got to her. You see a kid like Susan, it isn't real easy to comprehend how any kind of deity could do something like that. "The terrible wisdom of God," Graham Greene called it. And it is terrible indeed sometimes.
    Â 
    "T here it is!' Susan said fifteen minutes later as we drove through the gates to the small airport
    I should tell you about the plane. My uncle was a barnstormer. With his bi-plane, he dusted crops, flew mail and put on numberless shows at county fairs. I grew up wanting to have a bi-plane of my own and now I did. It has huge wheels, two open cockpits, and a rebuilt engine that makes a deafening noise. You can put her down with complete ease and safety on just about any small grass field in the country.
    "Do I get to wear the goggles today?"
    "You sure do," I said.
    "And the helmet?"
    "Absolutely."
    When I got her in the second seat of the bi-plane, she reached for her leather Snoopy helmet and her goggles. She'd already put on the heavy jacket Sister Ellen always made her bring along.
    "Are we ready?" she shouted down from her seat.
    "Just about, sweetheart."
    I spent a few minutes checking everything over — fuse, valves, engine controls, engine and flight instruments.   I even checked out the struts on the double wings. The bi-plane was built in 1929, an ancient venerable flying machine with mustard-colored sides. The wing panels are made of cloth and wood. This is about as close to a real bird as a flying machine will ever get.
    I got her going with just one jerk on the propeller. Then I climbed in my cockpit.
    "Here we go!' I said.
    Susan's exultant laugh
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