Never Too Far by Thomas Christopher Read Free Book Online Page A

took a few steps out into the water where it deepened and swirled around the top of his ankles. He turned to look at the girl. His feet sank in the sandy bottom but then held firm.
    “Watch this,” he said.
    He spread his arms out to his sides like a cross. Then he closed his eyes, tipped back on his heels, and fell straight backwards and smacked against the water. The river rushed over him, rolled him a bit in its current and then tried to bounce him back to the surface, but he held himself under as long as he could. The “ooooom” sound of the water played in his ears. He held his breath until he couldn’t hold it a second longer. That’s when he sprang forward, blasting out of the water. When he opened his eyes, he saw the girl standing at the river’s edge. She jumped back.
    “Aha!” he shouted. “I scared you.”
    She apparently wasn’t amused because she turned her back on him and stomped up the bank where she sat beside the water bucket again.
    “Ah, don’t be mad,” he said. “I was just having fun.”
    She grabbed the sides of her floppy hat and pulled it down tighter as if to say it wasn’t funny.
    “It was only a joke,” Joe said.
    She scraped at the ground with her fingers.
    “Be that way, then.”
    He sat in the water and grabbed handfuls of sand from the bottom and used them to rub the grime and stink off his arms and legs. He glanced at the girl once more. Her head was tilted up a smidge as if watching him from beneath the brim of her hat. He decided to have a little more fun with her. He walked up the bank, stood in front of her, and shook his body like a dog. A spray of water flew off on her. She got him back, though. She snuck her little hand out and pinched his big toe.
    “Yow!” Joe yelped, and then laughed. “You got me.”
    After Joe sunned himself dry and put his clothes back on, they each took turns dipping the tin cup into the bucket of water and gulping it down. This was the best Joe had felt since they started, and he was beginning to appreciate what the girl had to offer. Before they left on their journey, he didn’t think of her as contributing anything more than their cover story to throw off suspicion.
    “You know,” he said, “I don’t know your name, like the name your mom and dad gave you. I’m kind of wondering what it is and if you could tell me.”
    He waited for a reply, but as usual, she didn’t answer.
    “What if I say a bunch of names and you nod your head when I get to the right one. Let’s see. How about Becky, Susan, Rachel…”
    He rattled off ten more but the girl never nodded her head.
    “Okay,” Joe said. “Well, why don’t I make one up for you until you tell me otherwise?”
    He pretended to be in deep thought. He scratched his chin, narrowed his eyes, and twisted his mouth until he came up with a name.
    “Mary! How’s that? I’ll call you Mary.”
    She raked at the dirt between her feet and then dipped her knees in together.
    “So Mary it is,” he said. “Unless you tell me your real name.”
    At that moment, he happened to glance down the river at a stand of trees on the other side. What he saw made him do a double take. He saw a wispy stream of white smoke rising into the air above the treetops. He stood up and looked harder, squinting to make sure it was smoke and not something else.
    “You see that?” He pointed toward the trees. “Somebody’s over there.”  
    The next thing he knew there was a rifle shot from over his shoulder. A puff of dust exploded about five feet in front of him. Joe whirled around and looked up at the hill.
    “Get down,” he said to Mary.
    He hit the ground and scrambled over her body to shield her from another shot that he assumed was coming at any second. He crouched low and spied up the hill but he still couldn’t see anything. His rifle was in the wagon cab. Trying to run for it was too risky, especially since it would leave Mary exposed.
    Suddenly a man popped up over the hill like a