Rogue's Hollow by Jan Tilley Read Free Book Online

replied with a grin as he tossed his head to get the loose curls out of his face.
    Malachi was curious about his home life. “Is your mom working today?”
    “No, she’s got the day off. But, she’ll be sleeping most of the day and then go over to her boyfriend’s place,” Travis replied with a hint of sadness in his voice.
    “Don’t see her much, do you?”
    “Nah, she works at the factory and bartends on weekends. She’s not home very much. Then, when she is, she sleeps. Gets real mad if I disturb her, so I try to get out of the house on those days.”
    “Do you have any siblings?”
    Travis shook his head and his leg began to twitch again. “I had a little sister, but she died.” He nervously rolled his tongue around in his mouth and played with his tongue piercing.
    Malachi could sense that this was a sore subject and didn’t want to push him. “I’m sorry to hear that. It’s tough.” He wanted to change the subject. “Okay, so I just have to ask. What the heck is that thing in your mouth?”
    Travis pushed his tongue out of his mouth, exposing a small metal bar through his tongue with balls on each end. He smiled, exposing a solitary dimple on his left cheek and said, “It’s a tongue piercing.”
    Malachi reared back in his seat, shocked at what he was seeing. “Why in tarnation would anyone want to pierce their tongue, for goodness sake?”
    “It looks cool. Plus it gives me something to play with when I get bored.”
    “How do you eat? And doesn’t it hurt?”
    “I just eat around it. And, yeah, it hurt like hell when I did it!”
    A look of sheer terror consumed Malachi’s face. “What do you mean when you did it? You did it yourself? You didn’t even go to a doctor or a professional?”
    Travis grinned and shook his head. “Costs too much. I just numbed it with ice, sterilized a small nail with a lighter and jammed it right through.”
    Malachi cringed, reared back and clutched his stomach in pain. “Oh, dear Lord. You have got to be kidding me.”
    Laughing at his reaction, Travis shook his head. “No, I’m not kidding.”
    “Why didn’t you stop? It had to be extremely painful.”
    Shaking shaggy brown hair out of his eyes, he said, “Honestly, I got half-way through and it hurt so bad that I had tears running down my face. But I couldn’t stop there. I just took a deep breath and detached myself somehow from the pain. I grabbed the nail and in one forceful thrust, shoved it the rest of the way through.”
    Malachi gasped and covered his mouth.
    Travis laughed and continued, “Yeah, I think I kinda passed out after that. When I came to, there was blood all over and this nail sticking out of my tongue. It was pretty gnarly.”
    Just the thought of it made Malachi break out in a sweat. He took the handkerchief from the back pocket of his faded old blue jeans, wiping his forehead and upper lip as he moaned. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and looked at Travis. “Kid, you’re one messed up dude.”
    Travis was so tickled at Malachi’s reaction that he couldn’t stop laughing. He’d told the story to a couple of kids at school, but they just blew him off like it was no big deal. No one had reacted the way Malachi had and Travis thought it was hilarious. He kept sticking his tongue out and showing it to Malachi, watching as he cringed in horror and looked away.
    Malachi took a deep breath and stood up abruptly. “Okay, back to work. Work, work, lots of work. Focus on work.”
    Travis finished his pop and asked, “Can I do some more?”
    “Sure, if you keep that nasty tongue thing of yours inside your mouth. I don’t want to see it.”
    Nodding, he grinned and replied, “Deal. Hey, I have my nipples pierced too. Wanna see?”
    Malachi threw his hand in the air, blocking his view of Travis and said, “You lift your shirt and I’ll use this saw on you, young man.”                                        
    Travis laughed.