Wake The Stone Man by Carol McDougall Read Free Book Online Page A

in front of the chair … perfect. OK, everyone say ‘cheese.’” We were laughing and had our arms around each other and it felt like it used to. But a week later when the photos came back I saw it.
    I looked about ten years old — skinny as a rail with no hips or breasts. I looked like a little girl. Nakina looked like a woman. Sophisticated. She was wearing a sleeveless dress and had her hair pulled back in a bun.
    I looked at the photo for a long time, and then I went to my room and crawled under the blankets and let the waterworks roll. I don’t know if I was crying because I was ashamed of how I looked, or because I realized how Nakina saw me — how everyone saw me. No wonder she didn’t want to hang out with me anymore.
    After that Nakina took some different classes and didn’t eat with me in the cafeteria. We started to drift apart.

chapter six
    â€œYou look like you’re wearing fishnet stockings.”
    â€œFuck off.”
    â€œYou fuck off.”
    Anna was in a wheelchair after her operation and her legs were a crisscross of scars.
    â€œLet’s celebrate.”
    â€œCelebrate what?”
    â€œI don’t know. You getting sprung from the hospital,” I said. “Let’s take the day off and hang out down at the river.”
    We went down to the Kam River with a pack of smokes and a bottle of 772B. You had to fill out these forms in the liquor store and I’d memorized the cheapest brew, 772B — Old Sailor Sherry. We knew how to have a good time.
    â€œWhat if a train comes?”
    I was pulling Anna’s wheelchair backwards over the tracks. “It won’t,” I said.
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œTwo trains a day. One in the morning and the other about ten at night.”
    â€œYou sure?”
    â€œHave I ever been wrong before?” I said.
    â€œI’m dead.”
    â€œSeriously. They hardly use these tracks since the elevators closed.”
    â€œChrist Molly, go easy. Do you want me to end up back in hospital?”
    â€œSorry. Just one more track and we’re home free. Don’t drop the wine.”
    â€œYou’re shaking me out of my freakin chair and all you care about is the wine.”
    â€œRight,” I said, “hold on to the wine.”
    When we got down to the waterfront I had two brilliant ideas. The first was that Anna should put the brakes on her chair because the wharf was on an angle and if she rolled into the Kam I would be in deep shit. The second idea came when I was lying on my back looking up at Sask Wheat Pool Number 7. We had just polished off half a bottle of 772B and everything had a rosy glow.
    â€œHey, look up there,” I said.
    â€œWhere.”
    â€œTop of the elevator.”
    â€œYeah. So what?” she asked.
    â€œThe square building on top.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” I asked.
    â€œThat’s the electrician’s office. My uncle used to be the electrician and that was his office. He took me up one day — very cool.”
    â€œNo shit. How’d you get up there? The fire escape?”
    â€œNo idiot. There was an elevator.”
    â€œAn elevator in an elevator! Good one! You know, this place has been closed down for a few years.”
    â€œYeah. So?”
    â€œSo that office is empty.”
    â€œYeah. So what.”
    â€œSo it’s perfect,” I said.
    â€œPerfect for what?”
    â€œA studio,” I said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œA painting studio. Lots of windows, good light.”
    â€œLay off the Old Sailors,” Anna said.
    â€œPhilistine.”
    â€œAsshole.”
    â€œI hate your face pretty much.”
    I got up and walked toward the rusted ladder that went up the side of the elevator. Worth a try. I began to climb.
    Near the top some screws that secured the ladder to the concrete had come loose.
    I hung on tight but my legs started vibrating with the ladder. Not good. I kept