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Show 145 Chapter five. Steel "Karl, go out and get some wood," his mother told him on the evening of election day. "It's turning so cold outside that I want to keep the stove going all night. Put on your coat!" she called as he opened the kitchen door. "I don't need a coat just to go to the woodshed," he hollered back, shutting the door behind him. The first snow of the season had begun to fall in early afternoon, and lay on the ground an inch deep, too fresh to be sullied by soot. Karl admired his footprints in the snow; they were much longer than they'd been the winter before. Maggie Rose complained that his last two pairs of shoes were hardly broken in before he outgrew them, even though he'd worn them until they squeezed his toes. Shivering, he entered the darkness of the woodshed. As he bent to pick up a stack of kindling, a heavy touch on his shoulder made him shriek with fright and scatter the wood. "Take it easy," Andy whispered. "It's only me." "For cripes sake, Andy, you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing out here?" "Keep quiet, will you? I don't want anyone to hear us." Karl had been about to yell at Andy for frightening him out of a year's growth, but in the pale shaft of light that invaded the shed, he saw Andy's face. "What happened?" he asked, aware that something was seriously wrong. |
