Page 30 (1/2)

He had no idea what ti, but that was ridiculous His last cleartoward the hospital to visit Val, but…had he gotten there? Mike wasn’t sure Everything eird, and his head felt like it had been ransacked, all the drawers pulled out and du just thrown onto the floor

He plucked at his shirt, saw that it was crusted with dried blood, but he couldn’t find any cuts on his body Sos or body Could that much blood have come from a nosebleed? He doubted it, but when he touched his nose it felt eggshell fragile and sore Soh not as much as he expected to find More blood on his chin and throat He flexed his hands, pressed his fingers against bones and ribs There was pain just about everywhere, but nothing seemed broken Excepta dru a bit, watching the field tilt and whirl like a carnival ride; but after a moment it slowed, steadied, stopped There was a rustle behind hirass a dozen feet away Without knohy Mike sht he heard nored it He always heardcrazy

On unsteady feet, Mike trudged over to his bike, picked it up, spun the wheels to make sure they were true, and walked it back to the road He stood there for aup and down A-32 There were no cars this early and in the dips and hollows of the road there was the faintness of a dwindling fog He swung one leg over, wincing with the effort, then turned and looked back to the field He felt--on some level knew--that he should be more worried about all this than he was, but he couldn’t eness of it all made it hard to think

"Vic will kill ain

Vic’s house rules didn’t allow hiht, but that wasn’t so, but that was okay He’d had plenty of beatings; he could handle another He pushed off and began his slow, creaking way back to town With each mile it became less and less important to try and remember what happened

5

The Bone Man sat on the wooden rail of the farm fence and watched Mike ride by He wasn’t sure if the boy was able to see him now The boy probably could, the Bone Man considered, because frohosts fro were supposed to be able to see the dead Death was a , his aunt had told hiht in the rain, but not since; host road and then stepped off He knew for certain Henry Guthrie had as he lay dying in the rain

The kid looked bad as he biked by Sick and thin, bloody and gaunt He looked mostly dead now, but he never even turned his head toward the Bone Man, so the point was moot

The last crow came over and perched on the rail next to hi time "I wish you could talk, little brother," the Bone Man said "I’ll bet you know a lot ave a nearly silent caw, alreement

"Least now I can knohose side you’re on" He sood to be alone all the tis They both turned to look down the road

The Bone Man knew full well that Griswold had not sent the Raggedy Man to hurt Mike--that would have been suicidal--but he wasn’t sure why it was sent at all Maybe so Mike was Well, he mused, I wonder what he’ll make of what just happened "Bet you didn’t expect that to happen, did you?" he asked the wind, hoping Griswold could hear hi to think about