Superior Storm (Lake Superior Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page A

think so, Jonah,” she said.
    “OK,” I said. I had a vague sense that it had to do with our conversation on Friday night.
    I liked Leyla. Her attitude unsettled me slightly. Even so, I was rarely unhappy at the prospect of an afternoon alone. After a nap, I made a simple dough from flour, salt, oil, water and yeast. While it was rising, I fried up some ground beef with garlic, onions, pepper, basil and oregano. I also chopped up some tomatoes, fresh mushrooms and black olives. I opened a can of tomato paste and mixed it with water, black pepper, more basil and garlic, some salt and a lot of black pepper.
    When the dough was ready , I pressed it onto my pizza stone. I spread the tomato sauce onto it, and then the other ingredients, and topped it with mozzarella cheese, and put it in the oven for twenty minutes. Voila! Pizza.
    Belatedly, I remembered the football game. It wasn't the Seahawks or the Forty-niners, but I was doing my best to stay current with the Vikings this year. When in Rome, one ought to cheer for the Roman team. Or something like that.
    I watched most of the second half, munching on my pizza and drinking a bottle of Woodchuck's hard apple cider. It was a game the Vikings were expected to lose, so , naturally, they won. It was fun to watch a team do that. On the other hand, the Vikings also had a tendency to lose games they were supposed to win. I thought it might have something to do with the Scandinavian temperament of their fans. Too much success was morally questionable.
    The late game came on, still not the Seahawks. I had read somewhere that someone had done a bunch of blood tests on pastors, which seemed like a good idea for so many different reasons. They found that most pastors, over the course of a week, gradually built up to a massive adrenaline spike on Sunday mornings. Once the church services were all done with, there was a corresponding physical low, and most of them crashed, waking up with big headaches on Monday mornings.
    I had so far escaped the headaches, b ut I believed in the adrenaline and the following crash. The crash began to hit me as I watched the Bears battle the Packers , and even the drama of a battle for first place in the division failed to keep my eyes from growing heavy. I scooched down on the couch, set my plate on the floor , and fell into the blessed embrace of my Sunday afternoon nap.
    ~
    About a year ago, a bunch of thugs had broken into my cabin and trashed it , as a warning to me. I was too obtuse for the warning to be effective, but many staunch, worldly wise friends and church members had insisted afterward that I get an alarm system. I finally caved in when I came home one day to find it was already installed , and Julie was programming it for me.
    Generally , I only turned it on out of guilt, because I hadn't paid for installation. I left it off when I was personally at home. But I had never figured out how to turn off the brief , loud , series of beeps that happened whenever anyone opened a door or window.
    That loud beeping sound is what startled me out of my nap.
    I looked up , and there was a man dressed in black standing in the sliding door that opened onto my deck. He wore a black ski mask, covering his face except for holes where his eyes and mouth were.
    Talk about adrenaline spike. It was like no sermon I'd ever preached before.
    I've heard about an instinct that some natural fighters have to attack relentlessly without pausing. My Tae Kwon Do coach used to tell me I had it. I do know this: it's usually a good thing if your reactions surprise your opponent and he doesn't have time to think. I leaped from the couch, and stooping at the fireplace , I grabbed a ch unk of wood with my right hand and the poker in my left. I heaved the wood directly at his face. He ducked, and it hit him on the head because my aim had been too low. He cursed and staggered back while I switched the poker to my right hand and ran at him. Perhaps if I had paused he might have