Godless

Godless by Pete Hautman Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Godless by Pete Hautman Read Free Book Online
Authors: Pete Hautman
to?”
    â€œYeah. I know you guys are cooking up something.”
    I think about it for a few seconds, then decide to just go for it.
    â€œWe started a new religion.”
    Henry is waiting for more. I guess I have to give it to him.
    â€œWe worship the water tower.”
    He is nodding now, his face eager.
    â€œWe’re Chutengodians,” I say.
    â€œYeah? Who’s we?”
    â€œMe and Shin and Dan. And Magda.”
    His eyebrows pop up. “Magda Price?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œOkay then,” he says.
    â€œOkay what?”
    â€œOkay, then I wanna be a Chutengodian too.”

 
----
    A ND SO THE O CEAN SENT A MESSAGE TO THE H UMAN LEADERS AND DID THEREBY CAUSE THEM TO ERECT THOUSANDS OF GREAT EFFIGIES OF ITSELF THROUGHOUT THE LAND . A ND IN EACH OF THESE TOWERS THE O CEAN DEPOSITED A TINY PORTION OF ITS PURE S ELF, AND GAVE THE H UMANS PERMISSION TO PARTAKE OF IT FREELY . A ND THE H UMANS GATHERED AROUND THE TOWERS AND BUILT THEIR TOWNS AND CITIES AROUND THEM, AND THE TOWERS DID SERVE AS THE E YES AND E ARS OF THE O CEAN, AND THE O CEAN WATCHED AND LISTENED AND WATTED, AND FOR A TIME, THE O CEAN WAS CONTENT .
----

10
 
    At precisely fifteen minutes after midnight, I slip out of bed and look out my window to the east. Just past the corner of the garage, through the branches of the elm tree, I can see the blinking red light on top of the water tower. The Ten-legged One beckons me. I quietly dress in ninja black, right down to my Reeboks, and silently slink down the hall, slither past my parents’ bedroom, and ooze out the back door.
    Free, free at last! Ha! They’ll never catch me now—not until it’s too late. Too late for everyone! They’ll regret their laughter and taunts. They’ll regret throwing me in their reeking dungeons. I’ve eaten my last plague-ridden rat. I’ll mount the Ten-legged One and gallop from the river to the sea, crushing all who stand in my way. Nyuh-ha-ha! From now on,
they’ll
do as
I
say.
    It takes me twenty minutes to reach the tower. No Henry. I sit with my back against one of the legs and wait, listening to the soft sound of water droplets hitting grass, thinking deep thoughts about Chutengodianism. What’s it like in Chutengodian heaven?
Is
there a Chutengodian heaven? And if there’s a heaven, does that mean there’s a hell? Serious questions requiring serious thought.
    I hear a soft sound; cowboy boots scuffing grass. Henry appears on the opposite side of the tower, hands stuffed in his pockets, pacing. He doesn’t see me. I watch him for a few seconds. I’m about to let him know I’m there when he steps behind the tower leg. I wait for him to come out the other side.
    Thirty seconds later I’m still waiting.
    â€œHenry!” I say. No response. I walk over to where I saw him. No Henry. I raise my voice. “Hey, Henry!”
    â€œRight here.” The voice comes from above—I about jump out of my skin.
    â€œHenry?” I look up and see him thirty feet above me, clinging to the leg.
    â€œCome on,” he says. “Grab onto the cables.”
    â€œCables?” I see them now, four thick black cables running up the channel of the I-beam. “What are they?”
    â€œI dunno. Electric cables, I guess. You coming or not?”Henry continues his climb, wedging the toes of his cowboy boots between the cables and pulling himself up, hand over hand.
    If I think too long about this I won’t do it. I grab a cable and pull myself up. It’s surprisingly easy, easier than the rope climb in gym class. The cables are covered with grippy black plastic, and my toes wedge nicely between them. I get into a rhythm: left hand, right foot, right hand, left foot.
    â€œHow you doing?” Henry says over his shoulder.
    â€œI’m okay.” The catwalk is still a long way above us.
    â€œDon’t look down.”
    Of course I look down. We can’t be more than

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