Last of the Dixie Heroes
Chapter One
Roy thought he heard his son crying in the night. He got up, went
down the hall, opened Rhett's door, smelled the emptiness inside.
And woke up. Must have been asleep until that moment. How else to
explain it? Roy didn't turn on the light.
Must have been sleepwalking, or something close to it, and dreaming
uneasy dreams, because first, Rhett had never done much crying in
the night, not even as a baby, and now he was eleven years old; and
second, his empty bedroom had been empty for more than six
months-Roy could probably have calculated the exact duration if he'd
had a mind to. No need to turn on the light, no need to see last
year's posters left behind, outgrown clothes in the closet, how neat
everything was. No one had switched off the air conditioner in the
window. Cold air followed Roy back to his room.
Roy awoke for good a few hours later, alone in a bed meant for two.
There'd been a time in his life, back when he himself was a boy and
even after, when he'd awakened every morning with a bubble of
happiness in his chest, when he'd actually jumped out of bed. He
could remember that feel ... read full excerpt from: Last of the Dixie Heroes ebook
