Road To Nowhere Read Online Free PDF Page A

She was a dreamer, that Candy. She should have been born on the moon. Anyway, John began to help her with her maths before he even asked her out. He knew right from the start he wanted her. He was just biding his time, being cool, and she really needed his help. She had a C that was looking more and more like a D every day.
    “Candy needed more than tutoring. John moved so he was sitting behind her, and during tests he would pass her the answers. John was a whiz at maths. Candy’s grade went from a C to a B in a month. The teacher was out to lunch so they never got caught. Candy would have got an A in the class if she hadn't started so far in the hole. John did get an A. He got As in practically everything.
    “Finally John and Candy started dating. He didn’t even ask her out. She asked him out! She was hot for him by then. John was hot for her, but he liked a girl bouncing before he jumped – if you know what I mean. They went to the movies, ate, drank beer – the usual teen scene. They went to the beach a lot, too. Candy looked like sex and sun lying in the warm sand. By then they were heavily involved, physically I mean. They did it just about every day. They got along great. Their junior year ended and, of course, they had more free time, although John still had to work hard at the gas station. If he didn’t bring home the bacon, his stepdad carved it off his ass with a belt. John had a bastard of a stepdad. The guy had lost a few screws welding on so many bolts for so many years on the assembly lines in Detroit. They couldn’t stand the sight of each other.
    “But all this time John didn't know that Candy was keeping a secret from him. He didn’t find it out until they were already back in school for their senior year. You see, Candy didn’t take any art classes. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor. I say her parents and not her because Candy didn’t really know what she wanted to do with her life. The one thing she knew was she loved to draw. She was a genius, really, when it came to sketching stuff. But she kept her abilities secret from John because she was afraid he'd make fun of her. That was one thing about John. He couldn’t stop teasing people. He would tease a guy pushing himself up a hill in a wheelchair – not because he wanted to hurt the guy’s feelings, but because he wanted to get a laugh out of him. John was always trying to get a laugh out of everybody.
    “Well, one day he stopped by Candy's house when she didn’t expect him. She was up in her room working when he walked in. She had an easel set up by the window with a drawing of John and herself at the beach. She was sketching John then. She was using charcoal – Candy only drew in black. Later she told John it was because she was colour-blind, but he thought she was just kidding. A miniscule number of girls are colour-blind, John knew.
    “Anyway, he walked in on her while she was in the middle of her sketch and she just about died of embarrassment And Candy didn't embarrass easily. How could she when her brain was always sitting on the goddamn moon? But she was sensitive when it came to her art. She knew John would razz her no end, which was exactly what he did. But I knew John. I knew how he really felt about Candy’s work. Her talent blew him away, it really did. The second he saw her drawing of him his jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe how much power she had put in it. She caught a side of John not many people knew. The strong John. The one who could make things happen. He could have been great.
    “But John didn’t let his jaw stay dropped. He quickly started in on her, saying that she had made his ears too big and his nose too long and that he should be carrying a rifle and looking macho. Candy couldn't listen. She pulled the sketch down, tore it in two and threw the pieces in the garbage. She started crying, which just made John hassle her more. There was no point in showing weakness around him. He saw it as an invitation