Moonlight Water Read Online Free PDF Page B

the fake ID gypsies, I’m going to trade in the Alfa, buy a van, put a bed in the back, and I’m asking you to bring the van to me at Point Reyes. At night.”
    Gianni looked at him quizzically.
    â€œRight now it doesn’t matter why Point Reyes, okay? Then I’m going to drive into the parts of America I don’t know, which is most of it. Walk woods, look at new night skies. Visit national parks.” Robbie blew smoke toward the ocean. “You think anyone ever gets laid in a national park?”
    â€œYeah, bears and other creatures you don’t want to get near.”
    â€œGad, you can be a cynical sort. Anyway, I’m going to eat in diners, find the best meat loaf anywhere, and check out whatever folk art is around. Sketch some. I’m hoping every state has something as mind-boggling as Carhenge. Do you know about Carhenge?”
    â€œNo.”
    Didn’t sound like he wanted to know either, but Robbie pitched in. “Gianni, in Alliance, Nebraska—get that, Nebraska!—a guy has built a memorial to his father called Carhenge. It’s thirty-eight vintage automobiles arranged to look like, you know, Stonehenge in England. The circle is a hundred feet across. Some of the cars have been halfway buried with the grill end up, and others are welded onto them to create the arches.
    â€œGianni, imagine the dedication, the time, the love, the art.… I want to discover something like that in every state. Art everywhere! Art of the people.”
    â€œWatts Towers didn’t do it for you?”
    A moment of silence.
    â€œGianni, I don’t know who or what I’ll find. But I want to explore. That’s why I’m going.”
    â€œWill you do music anymore?”
    Robbie shrugged. “Can’t imagine being without it, but can’t imagine what to do with it right now.”
    â€œWhat the hell,” said Gianni, shaking his head. Gianni took in Rob with his eyes all the way. Then, suddenly, he said, “I’m calling you out. This is shit. I’m asking you, aren’t you scared? Don’t you know you’re scared?”
    Rob breathed in and out. “Yeah.” Another breath in and out. “Yeah.” A third breath. “I’m real scared. I wake up feeling like I’m stiff as a steel beam in a freezing wind and I can’t move.
    â€œMaybe there’s nothing out there. Nothing that matters to me. Maybe I’m running away to an empty, miserable life.”
    Gianni nodded at him, a thank-god expression on his face.
    Robbie went on thoughtfully, his eyes reaching far out to the black sea. “But there are two things. I’ve driven my life into a brick wall, and it’s not running anymore. Nothing to do but walk away from the wreck.”
    Now he almost waited too long, and Gianni started to speak.
    â€œThe other thing,” Robbie lurched on, “is a big one. I’m excited. For the first time in probably ten years I’m juiced. I want to know what can be out there for me. I want to find a life for me, not for my persona, Rob Roy. Me. And the idea makes my blood rush.”
    Gianni waited and then said, “So the bottom line is?”
    â€œI’m outta here. Like Lazarus, I’m gonna stand up and walk again.”
    Gianni stood up and faced his friend. “All right, I’ll save your ass. When you run out of money in a year, I’ll give you back double what I’m investing for you.”
    â€œBravo.”
    â€œBut I want you to do two things for me as a friend. And for yourself.”
    â€œName it.”
    â€œStay in touch. I’m the only person with your phone number. The only person from your old life.”
    â€œDone.”
    â€œI still think it’s crazy, but I also know you. When your mind is set, there’s no changing it.”
    â€œDamn straight.”
    They sat together companionably and watched the ripples dance, listened to them lap the shore