It's a Little Haywire Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I don’t know. Does it bug
you?”
    I think about it. Funny thing is, it
doesn’t bug me. In fact, I sort of like it. But only from Mikala.
No one else. “No, I don’t mind it. Just curious that’s all.”
    “Okay, Owen True. Tell me, what’s it
like to live in a big city?”
    I shrug my shoulders. “It’s okay.
There’s always lots to do. But there’s also lots of noise and
pollution.”
    Mikala sighs wistfully. “Crickets, I’ve
never been to a big city before.”
    “Really?”
    “It’s true. I’ve never been anywhere
outside of Edson, and I only go there to go to school and shop
sometimes. That’s why I want to be a writer. If I can get rich and
famous, I can leave Hayward and buy a new dress.”
    I suddenly feel really sad for Mikala.
And a little ashamed of myself. I have so many opportunities and so
much stuff and I just take all of it for granted. “I’m sure you’ll
be a great writer someday,” I say. “Are you writing anything right
now?”
    “Ah, I try, but I don’t have any good
ideas. Do you have any good ideas, Owen True?’
    I lean back to think about it. Any good
ideas? Then I remember the weird fog thing that happened the first
night I arrived.
    “Have you ever seen fog here? I mean,
not regular fog but strange fog?”
    Mikala shakes her head.
    I decide to chance it. To tell her what
happened that night. I hope she doesn’t think I’m a big weirdo and
throw me off the fort or something.
    “The first night I was here, I went to
the creek behind Gramps’ house. There’s an old log there I like to
sit on. I can throw rocks into the creek from there and watch the
trains go by.”
    “But the trains don’t go by Hayward
anymore,” Mikala says.
    “I know, but that was the weird thing. I
heard a train. The whistle blew loud and clear. Then the fog came
up outta nowhere, and rolled sort of like a long snake. It stayed
on the tracks. I know this sounds crazy Mikala, but I swear, I saw
it.”
    “If you say you saw it, then I believe
you.”
    “It turned into a fog train and then at
the end where the caboose would be, this thing formed. Some kind of
being. It had a face with small holes where the eyes would be and
two arms. It saluted me, and then disappeared.”
    Mikala’s eyes are as big as Daisy’s food
and water bowls.
    “What’d’ya think it was?” she says.
    “I don’t know. Maybe a ghost?”
    “Or an angel?”
    I ponder that. “Well, it did have
wing-type things, so I suppose it could’ve been an angel. But why
would an angel show itself to me?”
    “Well, I don’t know,” Mikala says, “but
whatever it was, it does make for a good story.” She smiles then.
“Thanks, Owen True.”
    I smile back feeling strangely
happy.

CHAPTER SIX
    Owen True – The Forgotten
     
     
    THE THING ABOUT LIFE in Haywire is that
time S-L-O-W-S right down to a crawl. Like the caterpillar I’m
watching inch its way across the sidewalk. It’s in no hurry and it
might make it across by nightfall if it’s lucky and someone doesn’t
step on it first.
    So, even though I’ve only been
here one week, it feels like a month . Or longer. And I still haven’t heard from
my mom or my dad. Probably because time in Seattle and the Bahamas
goes by like wild fire and for them, I’ve only been gone, like, two
hours.
    Still, I’m their kid! Can’t Mom
take a little break from all her happy fun to call her only son?
Does Ar-throw-up have to
dominate all of her time?
    Fine. Forget about me then. See if I
care. Let me just rot away here in Haywire while you have all your
fun and busy work days.
    And if it weren’t for Mikala, I would be
suffering an actual slow death. The fact that she is on her way
over makes this day bearable.
    I wait for her at the log by the creek.
She wants to see if the fog will show up again and maybe the angel,
if it was an angel.
    I tried to talk her out of it. This
place kinda creeps me out now, but Mikala can be really persuasive.
I didn’t want to look like a