To Thee Is This World Given by Khel Milam Read Free Book Online

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7
    T he full moon rendered everything varying shades of blue, all but the sand on the bank, which was a bright, cool white. The moonlight was strong and they and the animals and the trees were all clearly visible within it.
    He was looking down, watching his finger carve a furrow through the sand.
    Still wearing ear phones, she was lying on the ground across from him as if unaware of his presence. The mastiff was pressed close against her side.
    He glanced over at her then scooped up a handful of sand and watched without interest as it slipped through his fingers and was carried off by the breeze. He turned his hand over and let the rest fall to the ground. He lie down then sat up again, rocking back and forth with his arms around his legs. His eyes cast about the bank then returned to her, boring a hole through the pale, blue-white light as if demanding that she acknowledge him. He began drumming his hands against his knees. “What are you listening to?”
    She did not sit up or turn towards him or remove her ear phones. “You wouldn’t like it.”
    “How do you know?”
    She did not respond.
    “It’s probably not even on.”
    She continued ignoring him, and in the lengthening silence, the unceasing drone of the cicadas grew steadily louder.
    “How do you keep it charged?”
    “With a solar charger.”
    Another long moment passed.
    “Don’t you get sick of listening to the same songs over and over again?”
    “There are over a thousand on it. I don’t even remember all of them.”
    “With those things on, you’re just begging for something to creep up on you. And you’d never even know it till it’s too late.”
    She slipped off the ear phones and sat up, patting the mastiff’s flank. “But he will.”
    “How long have you had him?”
    “Since about two months after it started.”
    “The way he acts, I figured you had him all his life.”
    “Nope.” Rubbing his massive head, she looked down at the dog. “I found him locked in an empty house without even a window cracked. He was trapped in there. He had no way to get out at all.” She pointed at the mutt. “He’s the only reason I even went to the house. It’s like he knew he was in there. Like he knew he needed help.” She stroked the huge head again. “He was almost dead.” She paused, her eyes focused inward. “He could barely even pull himself up. He’d eaten all the food they’d left and drunk all of the water in the house, even the water in the toilets.
    “The house was disgusting. The floors were covered with feces and urine. And the doors had deep gouges all over them where he’d tried to claw his way out.” Her voice caught and she paused again, looking away. She breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. “We had to stay there for awhile till he was strong enough to travel, camped out in the back yard, because the house smelled so awful, and because once he got out, he wouldn’t go back in. He hasn’t gone inside any building since.”
    “That’s a pretty big hang-up. Not being able to go in buildings.” He stared at the dog. “Not much use for keeping you safe when you want something to eat or a roof over your head.”
    “You didn’t seem to think he was so useless a few hours ago.”
    His face became a mask of angry embarrassment. “You would’ve let’em kill me. You didn’t even try to call’em off. I can’t even believe that. They could’ve killed me.”
    “I didn’t need to call them off. I knew that they’d follow me since you weren’t fighting back.”
    “And if they didn’t?”
    “Then I wouldn’t have been able to call them off of you anyway.” She shrugged, speaking through a yawn. “It’s never a good idea to threaten something that can’t be reasoned with.” She made a short derisive sound. “Actually, it’s never a good idea to threaten anything.”
    He picked up a stick and began jabbing it into the sand in front of him. “You’re just lucky they’ve won all their battles with the