In the Lone and Level Sands Read Online Free PDF Page A

of her co-workers and her classmates, she knew the driver and
the regular passengers on her bus, and she got along well with all
of them, but she didn’t truly let anybody into her life. She didn’t
know how.
    If there was one thing Zoe had learned from what
felt like a life already too long, it was that everyone who gets
close eventually goes away. Zoe could take care of herself, it
seemed, but no one else.
    It didn’t bother her at all, and she repeated that
nearly every night as she cried herself to sleep.
     
    7
    A Death in the Family
     
    A small picture frame rested on a nightstand next to
a bed. The picture within was old, taken in Washington, and
featured a couple just married and standing before a ‘57 Bel-Air.
The couple in the picture was Charlie and Martha James, and at the
time the photo was taken, they were in love.
    Glass littered the floor beneath the nightstand,
mixed with food and blood. The food was meant to be Charlie’s
lunch, the blood was slowly trickling from Martha’s knees. She
didn’t care, didn’t feel the pain as she knelt with her face in her
hands, crying and begging.
    On the bed, Charlie James lay dead.
     
    ****
     
    Emily James-Espinoza had written a list of things
she needed to grab from the store. She looked it over and then set
it down. Emily passed through the living room, where her daughter
Francine sat on the couch reading a book, and headed down the hall
to get ready to leave. When she returned to the kitchen to retrieve
the list, there were a few extra items on it. Her husband, Billy,
was rummaging through the fridge. “Billy!” Emily said, trying to
stifle a laugh. “What is this?”
    “What?” Billy said.
    “You know exactly what. You always add things you
don’t need to my list.” Billy turned from the fridge and looked at
Emily with one eyebrow raised and a big smile.
    “Stop leaving it out and there won’t be any
unexpected items on there. Besides, I need all that stuff.”
    “You need Heineken? And potato chips?”
    “Yeah!” Billy said.
    “And a Monster energy drink?” Emily asked. “Since
when do you drink those?”
    Billy pointed to Francine, who had been engrossed in
her book until the energy drink was mentioned. She was laughing as
she set the book down.
    “Come on, Dad!” she said. “Selling out your own
daughter?”
    “We can both take the rap,” Billy said. Emily looked
at Francine.
    “Those drinks are nothing but sugar.”
    “I’m not worried about the sugar, Mom.”
    “All right,” Emily said. “But don’t expect me to
cave so easily all the time.”
    “Thanks, Mom,” Francine said before returning to her
book.
    Billy closed in and tenderly flipped Emily around.
They met in a kiss, which she hadn’t been ready for. She smiled
when the kiss ended.
    “You still meeting Beverly for lunch after the
store?” Billy asked.
    “Yeah,” Emily said. “I still don’t know where we’re
going. I’m not that hungry. Might go to Barnes and Noble, get a
coffee or something. Depends on what she’s feeling.”
    “You can walk around Hendrick’s Square, just make a
day of it.”
    “I shouldn’t stay out too long. I have like thirty
thousand papers to grade for the summer school kids, plus the
laundry.” Emily sighed.
    “I can help with the laundry, you know,” Billy
said.
    “It’s okay,” Emily said. “We haven’t been able to do
anything together all week. I can see Beverly anytime.”
    “No, you go. Your kids can wait another day for
their papers. They probably don’t care much anyway, if they have to
go to school in the summer.” Billy chuckled. Emily frowned at him.
“We can still do something tonight. Maybe go out to dinner? Just
the two of us?”
    Emily pondered the choice for a moment, looking up
at Billy’s face. He had red cheeks accentuated by a short,
clean-cut, graying beard. The hair on his head was thin on top.
Light shined where there was no hair.
    “Thanks, honey,” Emily said. “That