Heartland Junk (Part II): Sanctuary Read Online Free PDF Page B

began to wobble dangerously.
                  "Earthquake!" shrieked Rivet, jittering his hips back and forth to facilitate the shelves' rocking.
                  "Okay, okay. Quit it already. You're going to— shit! " The shelves swayed away from me...and didn't come back. Rivet teetered on the corner of the shelf for a breathtaking moment, then gravity caught the metal structure and pulled it hard to the ground. With a yelp, Rivet disappeared in a fog of airborne flour. Things shattered, broke, tumbled and rolled away on the smooth floor. I raced down the aisle and found Rivet sprawled on a mat of red plastic coffee tubs, holding his back and moaning.
                  "You hurt anything?" I asked, kicking away Folgers cans to kneel next to him.
                  "Yeah..." Rivet groaned, rolling away. Fuck.
                  "Where does it hurt?" I asked, concerned, hands hovering over him, afraid to touch him in case I made it worse.
                  "I think I broke..." Rivet began.
                  "What? Broke what? Jesus, Rivet."
                  "I think I broke...my dick. You'll have to set it for me." His smiling face whipped toward me. God dammit. I stood and walked away, tripping over coffee cans. "And, oh no! I've landed on a snake! Just suck out the poison, Ray! Please!" He was calling after me. "Please, don't leave me!"
                  "Cunt!" I yelled over my shoulder. "I don't know why I was worried. You can't take anything seriously."
                  "But...but isn't that why you love me?" Rivet howled laughter. I kept walking, mostly so he couldn't see me smile. What a dipshit.
                  He finally joined me in the next aisle over, where I was loading the cart with bottles of grape juice. He rested an elbow on my shoulder and leaned into me.
                  "I'm sorry."
                  "Save it, homo pretendus. If you're really sorry, you'll make yourself useful and start loading the Jeep."
                  "Aye aye, el capitan."
                  While he rattled the shopping cart away, I went back to the debris-strewn aisle and commandeered Rivet's empty cart. Just a few more things, and we'd be on our way. In the center of the store was an aisle with toilet paper and pet food on one side and random gadgets on the other—phone chargers, earbuds, cooking utensils, magazines, all the stuff that didn't really fit anywhere else. I pulled my phone from my pocket and began tearing the plastic off the car chargers until I found one that fit my old Droid. Farther down was a small section of garden decor, and beside the smiling gnomes was a crate of solar lights. I took every last one, added a few packs of condoms, then pushed the cart to the wine section in the back of the store and gently laid a few dozen bottles over everything.
                  When I walked out, Rivet had the rear door of the Jeep open and was stuffing sugar bags up against the back of the seat inside. The sun was sinking low over the domed roof of the courthouse deeper into town. We could still make the library if we hurried. I helped Rivet pile the rest of the supplies into the Jeep and was about to climb in when I remembered.
                  "Shit," I said. "Give me thirty seconds." Before Rivet could reply, I leaped out and raced back inside. I returned a minute later, two packages of Oreos in hand.
                  "You're such a sap," Rivet told me as he cranked the Jeep and spun out of the parking lot.
     
     

Chapter 6
     
                  THE HOUSE loomed, silent as a tombstone in the last light of day, as we pulled the Jeep into the back lawn. I peered up at the dark windows through the windshield.
                  "Where is everybody?" Rivet asked.
                  "Beats me," I said.