gives a shit about me. Mom couldn’t care less. Now, seriously—how did you do that?”
“Again, I did not. You did.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe I’m talking about your future.”
“My future? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Come,” Gustav said. “I would show you things. Things you need to know, yes? Come…come.”
He started walking away from the corpse, toward the trail. He did not turn around.
“What about him?” Danny pointed at the corpse. “Shouldn’t we call someone?”
Gustav looked back at the body, then back up to Danny. “Now that he found you, others can find him soon enough. Understand?”
“Not really.”
Gustav turned away again and continued walking.
“What about my bike?”
“It is taken care of,” the old man called over his shoulder. “No one will find it.”
“But it’s lying out here in the open.”
“There are many things in plain sight that cannot be seen. Just like that dead man was.”
With one last glance at his Schwinn, Danny followed Gustav, giving only a passing thought to the half-eaten body in the water. He thought more about the crabs he didn’t catch, the silent gulls, and how Gustav made the string spin. Try as he might, he could not get the string to stay on the end of his finger. It slipped off with each step he took. Danny tried slowing his pace to keep steadier but that didn’t help much either, though it did manage to stay on his fingertip for a fraction of a second longer.
Five steps ahead, Gustav muttered something under his breath.
“What’d you say?” Danny asked, hurrying to catch up.
“So hard you try. Too hard, perhaps?”
“You always answer a question with a question?”
“Questions…you must dare to ask, and learn. Too simple is it to be told answers. They become…invaluable, see? That which
“That’s all they want at school,” Danny said. “That’s why I hate the place.”
Gustav frowned. “Hate the place, or the learning?”
“They don’t teach us anything…they just…recite, you know? And they want you to spit it back at them same way they said it to you.”
“This I understand. You understand, too. Question, question, and question some more. Every question leads to a better question, until there can only be silence as an answer.”
Danny’s face scrunched up. “I think I get you.”
“Good. Then you begin to understand.”
They walked on in silence.
…and the string spun.
THREE
Danny had never seen so many books. Every room, every wall, floor to ceiling bookshelves, and not a single one was empty. Danny tried to read their spines, but it was too dark. The lights were off and the windows were blocked.
“Can you turn the lights on?” Danny asked.
Gustav clapped his hands. The lights came on.
“How’d you do that?” Danny asked.
“How?” Gustav grinned. “Guess.”
“I don’t know; some kind of weird shit, like the string?”
“Perhaps. Yes, perhaps that. Or perhaps not.”
“Well, what else would it be?”
“Maybe from the television, yes? You’ve seen the commercials? $19.95, plus shipping and handling. They double your order—for free! Can you believe? Act now and get a special bonus gift.”
Danny clapped his hands, and the lights turned off. He clapped them again and they went back on. “I can’t believe you actually ordered that thing. Everyone knows the stuff they sell on TV is a ripoff.”
Shrugging, Gustav walked over to a shelf, selected a book, and placed it in Danny’s hand.
“Read.”
Danny looked at the cover. It was blank. He flipped it over; the same. He opened it, turned a few pages. They were also blank. “There’s nothing here.”
Gustav clapped his hands. The lights went out.
“Hey,” Danny yelled. “Turn them back on!”
“No.”
“Turn them on, man. I’m warning you, if you try anything I’ll—”
“You talk too much. Read.”
“I can’t read if I can’t
Nothing happened.
He clapped them again. The darkness remained.
“Great, now that piece of shit As-Seen-On-TV thing you bought is busted.”
“Stop that.”
Danny tried clapping again. No lights. The darkness seemed to swell, as if it were pressing against him.
“Stop,” Gustav said. “Sit down. Read.”
“I told you, I can’t read in the dark.”
“No?”
“Of course not.”
“Why?”
Danny sighed. “You need light to see, stupid. And besides, there wasn’t anything in that book. It’s blank.”
“You’re sure?”
“Sure of what?”
“Of everything.”
“I’m sure there was nothing in there, I’m sure you need light to see, and I’m sure that the stupid thing you bought ain’t—”
Danny clapped his hands
“—fucking—”
“—working!”
Gustav clapped and the light came on. He extended his hand. “Give me the book.”
Danny handed it to him.
“Stand on the chair,” Gustav said.
“What?”
“Stand on the chair.”
Danny grew nervous. “What for?”
Gustav said nothing. He stared at Danny, frowning.
“Fine,” Danny groaned. “I’ll stand on the frigging chair if it’ll make you happy. But then I got to get going. I can’t believe I came here.”
