Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak Read Free Book Online Page B

looking up and around at the vaulted ceiling, at the illuminated fountains, gawking at the Niles city kids who hung out in clusters at various stations: in the sunken garden, in the arcade, on the marbled steps of the platform where the carousel turned round and round, the horses going up and down, riderless, behind them.
    Stepping into the mall was always a bit like going to Disney World. I was used to Times Square Café, the Dairy Oasis, the county fair’s two midways, fields of corn and soybeans, Sugar Creek winding through town on its way down to Yankee Lake. The denizens of the mall in Niles might as well have been costumed characters putting on a play. And there were lots of different types of characters, even ones I hadn’t anticipated. Like Gilbert Humphrey.
    We were in the food court, sitting in a vast archipelago of white and yellow tables, sipping supersized Cokes, when Jarrod asked, “Is that guy over there what I think he is?”
    “Which guy?” I said, looking over my shoulder.
    “Don’t!” Jarrod whispered. “Damn it, he’s spotted us. Here he comes.”
    “Who?”
I said, still not understanding.
    Out of the milling crowd of teenagers and mothers pulling children in tow, saying no to all the toy stores they passed, came a local army recruiter. He seemed to materialize a few feet from our table, as if beamed down by a starship, wearing a uniform and a smile, standing tall and proud. “Hey, guys,” he said, like we were old friends, and before I could blink, he stood at the edge of our table. “Gilbert Humphrey, army recruitment. You boys look like you’re getting ready to graduate.”
    I nodded. Jarrod shrugged.
    “Well, that’s great,” said Gilbert Humphrey. “That’s good you boys are about to make it out into the world. Bet you’re glad school’s almost done?”
    I nodded again. Jarrod shrugged again. “Sure,” we said in unison.
    “What are you all going to do now?” Gilbert asked, and I could tell immediately where he was going with this.
    “I’m not sure,” I said. “I figure I’ll take the rest of the school year to think it over.”
    “Good,” said Gilbert, nodding. “No hasty decisions.” And then, since I’d made myself unavailable, he looked Jarrod up and down, spotting potential in his athletic form. “What about you?”
    “No idea,” said Jarrod. “I’ll probably do the same as him.” He gestured at me with his tower of Coke. We were playing Hot Potato, I realized, throwing Gilbert Humphrey’s attention back and forth between us.
    “Well, in case you boys don’t already have this, here’s an information packet.” He handed us thick envelopes and we said thanks without looking at them. “We have all sorts of things you guys could do. Want to go to another country? Drive a tank? Amazing stuff out there in the world. Real different from here. And women? Let me tell you about the women.”
    “Thanks, Gilbert,” Jarrod said as he scraped his chair back and stood. “We’ve got to go meet some friends, but it’s been nice.” Jarrod looked down at me and I stood up like a soldier who’s received an order.
    “My number’s in the envelope,” Gilbert said as we walked away.
    And when we finally made it out of his range, I said, “That was awkward.”
    “Sorry,” Jarrod said. “I should have pulled you out of your seat when I first saw him. Those guys can be persistent.”
    “He’ll never get anyone to sign up like that,” I said.
    “Sure he will,” Jarrod said. “Even being that annoying, he’ll get people. If this place wasn’t full of cattle, though, I don’t know how he’d convince anyone.”
    “Cattle?”
    Jarrod nodded. “This whole place—not enough jobs around to give people hope of making a life here, just enough to keep people breeding kids who have nowhere to go but into Gilbert Humphrey’s waiting arms. They’ve got themselves a real army farm here.”
    “You really think so?” I said. I’d never heard Jarrod sound like