Sharp Edges Read Online Free PDF

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    He no longer hunted, but the lessons he had learned had stayed with him. He still did some fishing when he got the chance. There was something about the long silences and the stillness of fishing that suited him. Fishing was important, even when you didn't catch anything.
    His grandmother, Gwen, had taught him how to read, how to grow roses in the desert, and about fifty different ways to prepare tuna fish.
    He knew he'd learned other things from his grandparents, things that were less easily put into words but that were infinitely more important. Things that some people thought were old-fashioned and out of place in the modern world.
    They were things that were rooted in the very center of his being and that, on the rare occasions when he happened to be in an introspective mood, he realized defined him in some elemental way.
    Katy had never comprehended or understood that deeply embedded part of him. Few people ever had.
    There were some who would claim that the stuff Beau and Gwen had taught him was not especially suited to life in the modern world. But Cyrus knew better. He knew that it was the things he had learned from his grandparents that had made it possible for him to survive in that world.
    "You claim that you were there for the good times with Rick," Meredith said. "But I'll never forget that you were there for the bad times, as well. I almost lost him, Cyrus. We both know that. He took the divorce hard."
    "He was only thirteen. Tough age for a kid to go through his parents' divorce."
    "There is no good age. He went wild those first few months after Jake left. Staying out all night. Hanging out with kids who were using drugs and alcohol. Shoplifting. It seemed like he was either moody or angry all of the time. I was scared to death."
    "It's over, Meredith. He's graduated high school with honors and he's off to college in September."
    "Because of you." She grimaced. "I still shudder when I think of the time the police called to tell me he had been picked up and taken to the station."
    Desperate, panicked, and alone, Meredith had turned to Cyrus that night. It was Cyrus who had climbed out of bed to handle the aftermath of the incident that had involved alcohol, a fast car, and a group of kids who were growing up too fast and too hard without adult supervision.
    At the start of their association, Rick had been filled with a deep, cynical distrust. Cyrus was his uncle, but only by virtue of the recent marriage to his aunt, Katy.
    "Why did you come to get me?" Rick demanded as they walked out of the police station. "Where's Mom?"
    "She's at home."
    "She should have come, not you."
    "I'm your uncle."
    "Bullshit. You only married Aunt Katy six months ago. You hardly know me."
    "Something tells me we're going to get better acquainted real quick." Cyrus unlocked the car door. "Get in."
    "I'll take the bus home."
    "It's two in the morning." Cyrus did not raise his voice. He never raised his voice. "Get into the car. You've given your mother enough grief for one night."
    Rick hesitated. The streetlight caught the sheen of frustrated anger in his eyes. Cyrus knew the kid wanted to find strength and fortitude in his lonely defiance, but it had been a long night.
    "Screw it," Rick said. He flopped down onto the passenger seat.
    Cyrus walked around the front of the car and got in behind the wheel. "You're lucky," he said as he turned the key in the ignition. "You got picked up by well-trained, professional cops."
    "You call that lucky?"
    "I was sixteen when I got pulled over by a sheriff back in my hometown. He beat the crap out of me before he let me go."
    Rick stared at him. "You serious?"
    "Yeah."
    "Did your folks sue?"
    Cyrus smiled grimly. "Spoken like a true child of the modern age. No, my folks didn't sue. My father wasn't around. He disappeared before I was born. My mother got killed by a drunk driver when I was only a few months old. That left my grandparents. They didn't have the money to file a lawsuit."
    "So