Turn by David Podlipny Read Free Book Online Page A

innocuously.
    “What? You’re gonna give me a brain tumor…or something’s definitely gonna implode.”
    Sono rubbed his temples, finding it remarkably soothing.
    “What’s wrong with what you saw? Isn’t it wonderful? My guess is you have a romantic streak, even though you do your best to hide it.”
    Halting his busy fingers immediately, Sono hoisted his eyebrows in blatant skepticism.
    “It’s a good thing. A good trait to have. You’re very lucky.”
    “Lucky me, I have a romantic streak that I’m hiding,” Sono said with levity, finding his assertion ludicrous. “What other barbaric feelings am I hiding?”
    “It’s what makes us human.”
    “Romance is what makes us human? What kind of hallucination did you have today? Are you that lonely out here?”
    “Passion. Com passion. Affection. Wonder. Love. Take your pick. And no, I’m never lonely. None of us ever are.”
    Sono nodded drearily, appeasing his own distrust rather than substantiating his interest.
    “None of us?”
    He peered at his grandpa with claw-like doubt.
    “What do you think this is?” Edgar looked out over the jagged gray surroundings. “Death? Sterility?”
    Sono did as his grandpa, swiveling his head lithely as he inspected the concrete.
    “You left out merciless. And it’s ugly too. Leprosy fields, remember?”
    “Do you feel lonely?”
    “Here?”
    After Edgar’s nod, Sono swept his gaze across the jagged landscape once more.
    “Yeah...when you’re not around, of course. Who wouldn’t?”
    “Because you’re alone?”
    “Uh…what other reason is there?”
    “How do you know you’re alone?”
    Sono pursed his lips. “Are you trying to scare me? Are you gonna tell me this is actually a burial ground and ghosts roam these leprosy fields day and night? That means I’ve been dancing on someone’s grave…”
    “Stop calling it leprosy fields.”
    “Fine. Your haunted backyard. Your messy acres. Your dusty kingdom…”
    Sono puffed up his chest and assumed a lordly countenance.
    “You create the distance in your head. And you create the closeness too. Do you know how much empty space you’re made up of? Tons!”
    “Tons of empty space? Grandpa, come on,” Sono tilted his head endearingly. “How can emptiness weigh tons? And how did you manage to weigh empty space in the first place?”
    He responded only with a benign smile.
    “Is it a shaman secret? Tickle a wall and it whispers?” Sono swept his gaze across the concrete landscape for a third time. “Look at all the destruction your vertical shenanigans caused. They puked their grainy guts out to the point that they couldn’t even stand upright…”
    “You expect something from your surroundings, and by doing so, you cut yourself off. Initiate yourself.”
    Edgar pointed at him with all five fingers of his hand, which was something Sono had never before seen him do. It was much more disquieting than a simple index finger pointed at him, no matter how close to his cornea.
    “Initiate what?”
    “A connection.”
    “With this?” Sono surveyed the jagged landscape for a fourth time. “That sounds like fun, when it’s all in ruins…can I at least get a swing on my smelly tree? Or just a rope would do...”
    “You decide what the tree is, just as much as you decide what I am. What Turn is. What everything is. You have tremendous powers, Sono.”
    Sono took a few moments to try and compartmentalize, if not all, then at least some of his grandpa’s assertions.
    “You’re saying I’m omniscient and omnipotent? Careful with what you fill my impressionable mind with…I might just become obnoxious.” Sono nodded with affected importance. “What do the other shamans think about you granting these highflying qualities to an infantile dumbass? Uh, I mean strikingly handsome boy god. Man god. Especially the wise old women...”
    “They taught me this.”
    “Really?” Sono erupted in bright surprise. “I was just joking…there are actually other