Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie Read Free Book Online Page B

adjustable rear suspension. You know where Route Twenty-Three wraps around the lake?”
    “Yeah,” said Doug. “Hey, what’s going on over there, you think? That kid’s hurt bad, from the looks of it.”
    “There’s a little road about a mile before the evergreen farm,” Earl kept on, wrapped up in his petty boasting. “Takes you right into some fantastic open country where you can cut loose with some off-trail sledding. I’m taking Peter out there next weekend.”
    Doug grunted his irritation. Earl worked in heating and cooling and took home about as much money as Doug did, but he and Coral spent everything they earned, and then some, on themselves and their kids.
    Not Doug, though. He remembered the red-faced old regulars he’d seen huddled around the bar at Cody’s Bar so many years ago, slowly drinking their pension checks. They’d always talk about how things were better back in the day. Those old farts had worked factory jobs with union wages. All gone now. Times were tough all over. These days, a lot of folks in Lansdowne had to work two, even three jobs to put food on the table.
    Maybe Earl and Coral had the right idea, though. If you were screwed, why not borrow as much as you could, blow it having fun, and declare bankruptcy? Ten years later, you could be back on your feet. Doug pictured himself riding a snowmobile next weekend with Nate. He had a credit card; it was really that simple. They could have it all, at least for a while.
    But that wouldn’t be fair to the kids. Doug had a deep drive to see them do better in life than he had. Maybe Nate and Megan wouldn’t necessarily have a better future, but at least Doug could say he’d given them a fighting chance. And that meant putting every extra dollar they had away for college.
    Another kid, this one a little girl, fell face-first on the ice. She didn’t get up. Earl didn’t notice, blathering on about his snowmobile.
    “Something’s not right,” Doug murmured.
    “What’s that?” said Earl.
    A small boy’s knees buckled. He went down hard. Doug saw blood squirt from his nose on impact. Somebody screamed.
    There’s something wrong with the ice .
    “Megan!” he called. “Nate, come on over here now.”
    Parents crowded the edge of the rink, shouting out names. Three more kids fell all at once. The parents swarmed onto the rink. A flurry of panicked shrieks rent the air. Doug stepped onto the ice, almost lost his footing, and pushed through the crowd shouting for his kids.
    He slipped and fell hard. Pain flared in his hip. He hauled himself to his feet.
    “Megan! Nate!”
    He found his little girl sitting on the ice, crying into her mittens. The training aid lay on its side. Nate knelt behind her, arms locked around her body in a protective hug.
    Doug fell hard again. The thermos rolled away. A boot slammed into his head. He rose to his hands and knees with a groan and crawled.
    “Dad!” cried Nate.
    Doug enclosed his children in his arms. Was this enough to protect them? He glared at the people swirling around, ready to knock anybody flat if they so much as even looked at his boy and girl. His heart leaped in fear at the sight of bodies on the ice. Everybody was screaming. He couldn’t think. His head ached.
    “What’s going on, Dad?” said Nate. “Dad!”
    The ice is bad! Get them off the ice!
    He scooped the kids under his arms and glided across the ice until he reached the edge. He kept on going toward the parking lot, leaving the path and cutting through a snowy field.
    Halfway across, he set them down to check on them.
    “You all right?”
    Megan uncovered her face and yelled at the crowd behind: “ Stop. ”
    Doug sighed with relief. His kids were fine.
    He’d saved them from something, but he didn’t know what.
    Nate sniffed the air. “Somebody’s toast is burning.”
    Doug looked at him. “What?”
    Nate fell backward. His body thudded into the snow.
    Doug stared in disbelief. “Nate? Nate! ”
    He crouched over