Silence Read Online Free PDF Page A

quickly grown to love her as his sister after he had taken over
her welfare a little less than five years ago. Sheikoh had long
since given up on himself, but he would never forgive himself if he
was the reason she lost her innocent life.
    Sheikoh’s glance over at her was
suffused with parental warmth, but Dorothi didn’t notice. She
squinted forward through the masses of jostling people. Sheikoh let
his eyes follow hers’ general direction.
    “ Wanna find something to
eat?” Sheikoh asked, at the same time pulling a wallet out of the
ragged pocket beside him. His face settled with satisfaction.
Dorothi didn’t notice of course, she inhabited her own little
universe.
    “ Yeah! How about
Primelight?” She suggested happily.
    Sheikoh groaned, but his eyes sparkled
with amusement.
    “ We were over there
yesterday, don’t you ever get tired of that place?” he asked. His
tone of voice implied they’d had this conversation more than a few
times.
    “ But it’s right here,
Sheek!” said Dorothi.
    “ So is the dirt! That
doesn’t mean we have to eat it!” Sheikoh responded
quickly.
    His grin quickly crumpled under
Dorothi’s big, hopeful eyes. He endured them until there was no
choice but compliance. They shifted their course in Primelight’s
direction. Dorothi smiled, half-skipping along beside the bigger
boy. She had Sheikoh wrapped around her finger.
    “ You’re
right here…” Sheikoh grumbled under
his breath. He really needed to figure out how to break her
insidious hold over his emotions.
    “ I totally am!” Dorothi
exclaimed happily.
    “ No I totally am!” Sheikoh shot back at her.
    “ You’re silly, Sheek,”
Dorothi laughed. “That doesn’t even make sense!”
    “ You
don’t even make sense…” he
muttered.
    Dorothi just giggled to herself and
ignored him as they made for the restaurant. Currents of the crowd
pressed them conclusively ahead, as Sheikoh tried to work out how
this child had subdued him so easily. It was both a happy and sad
line of speculation. He hoped that it’d never be a talent Dorothi
came to regret.
    “ We’re here!” Dorothi
exclaimed in words colored by delight. A small smile crept onto
Sheikoh’s face.
    Primelight was a startling mixture of
shabbiness and overdone ostentatiousness. It’s chipped windows
gleamed with gaudy neon silhouettes of happy people and crowds.
It’s brickwork exterior was overlain with fading smiles, children
wearing styles from the last decade and flashing, neon arcade
games. Dorothi looked up at him, her face shining. Sheikoh shook
his head slowly at the irrepressible girl, remembering their
conversation. He was a little unsure as to how they’d gotten
here.
    “ We’re here,” Sheikoh
agreed with a dazed look as the two pushed opened the double doors
to the world of lights, cigarette smoke, and laughing conversation.
He sauntered past the servers waiting to greet them by the door,
and knocked on the rectangle window to the kitchen.
    “ Yo Adeil, whassup? Can we
get a grilled cheese and… a rack of ribs? Oh, and two colas, too,”
Sheikoh called in to the busy kitchen. A hairy man in an apron
smiled harriedly back at him and clanked two cans onto the
separating ledge between about five other jobs. Sheikoh flashed a
grin in return, and handed Dorothi hers as they walked away. The
dude barely had time to breath, let alone talk.
    Sheikoh’s smooth gait
resembled a glide through the smoky room, while Dorothi
half-skipped at his side, chattering happily about whatever popped
into her mind. The two sat down at their
usual table, a curved booth in the back that was draped in a rare
blanket of the ambient shadows that allowed Sheikoh to see others
while hiding the two from most wandering glances. They were far
from invisible, but the tacky, neon rainbow designs of the gaudy
restaurant were usually more than sufficient distraction to
disguise the two children-shaped silhouettes. Sheikoh didn’t feel
threatened in the restaurant