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.Probably walking home from some dive they had been high in the night before.The two boys, with their hoodies pulled over their baseball hats, quickened their pace as they moved toward him.Ezra jumped off the side of the bleachers and started to walk toward the high school, fast.It was Sunday, no one would be at the school, the doors would be locked.His heart was pounding.He knew Alex was faster than he was.Sensing that something behind him had changed, he looked over his shoulder.They had broken into a sprint, their faces tense and angry.Ezra took off, as fast as he could, and right away wished he had not pushed himself so hard before.He tore across the pavement and felt the small stones kick up under his running shoes.Where could he go? He had to get out to the street.They wouldn't do it in front of other people.Behind him he thought he heard their footsteps closing the distance, but he did not dare look back for fear it would slow him down.To run afraid, to run for safety, is different than just running.Finally, he gave into the temptation and looked over his shoulder."You're dead, you fucking rat!" Alex was only ten feet behind him, and Rick was just a little further back."We're going to smash your face in!" Rick yelled.Ezra tore onto the street, his arms and legs pumping furiously, and almost slipped.Sweat poured down his face and the back of his neck.The market was full of people; they wouldn't go after him there.He cut through a cafe parking lot, hoping the parked cars would slow them down, and ran past the large cafe window.It was crowded with people eating breakfast, but it never occurred to him to seek safety inside.Were they still behind him? Yes, he felt it, felt the danger bearing down.Catching the light, he ran across Notre Dame St.and into the open mouth of the market.Still, he heard them behind him.He ran further into the crowd before he stopped to look back.Alex and Rick had come to a stop by an old man playing a flute.They looked at him viciously with all their brimming, unsatisfied violence.Keeping his eye on them he backed into the crowd around the fruit and vegetable stands, and then disappeared amongst the bodies.Struggling to catch his breath, he looked for something to hold on to so he would not fall.Behind him the flute player picked up his tempo.He staggered past a display of African masks.Desperately and breathlessly, he looked for a place to sit down.Suddenly, up ahead, a woman screamed.The shrill cry cut through the crowd and everyone looked around in confusion.Ezra looked down the length of the market stands to see what had happened.Whoever had caused the chaos would not be stopped and fought his way through the crowd, limbs flailing about wildly, casting aside and tearing away from anything that tried to hinder him.Everything around Ezra blurred like the work of some visionary impressionist and he stood dumb.The desperate assailant broke out from among the people trying to hold him back and, released, fell forward.He crashed headlong into Ezra, and the two of them fell to the street.Long, dirty nails dug into his skin, and the rotten smell of the man's breath assaulted him as he tried to squirm free.The writhing madman laughed wildly and tried to hold Ezra's face still, to make their eyes meet, as the crowd pulled at his clothes to try and get him off.At last, in the midst of the screaming and laughter, he succeeded in holding Ezra's eyes on his dirty face for a moment."Now," the madman spit, "you have unchained this earth from its sun."Horrified, Ezra finally succeeded in freeing himself from the man's awful, bony body just as two merchants managed to restrain him.It was Jason B.Prism.He had stolen a pomegranate.DIONYSUS"There's no way in hell!""It's just one summer.It's time for me to go, Elsie.""You have no idea what you're talking about, and no idea who he is.""He's my grandfather!""Your grandfather.the words would stick in his throat if he tried to say them.""Elsie, I'm going to be seventeen.I want to know who he is, good or bad.""No.Especially not now.That kind of negativity is the last thing you need."Ezra looked away from her."Agree or disagree, I've already decided, for myself.""Oh, is that so?""Yes.""We've already seen how ready you are to make your own decisions." As soon as it came out of her mouth, she regretted saying it.He looked at her, pained."Right or wrong, they are my decisions to live with."Elsie shook her head at herself."I'm sorry.I shouldn't have said that.""It's okay.""Your uncle and I only want what's best for you, Ezra.""What's best, or what's most comfortable?""I'm sorry," she said, restraining her anger this time, "but you're not spending the summer there.The time may come, but as long as I'm still responsible for you, and I still am, you're not going."Gord did not agree with Elsie.He didn't think Ezra spending the summer on Pelee Island was such a bad idea.Harold would work the boy hard, that was for sure, and the work, and the time outside, would be good for him.Elsie was angry.Had he not listened to a single thing she had told him about her childhood with him? Gord told her that Ezra was no longer a child, and she walked away from him.That same night, in search of support, Elsie phoned her sister."Jesus, Olyvia, above anyone else, I thought you would get it.""I do get it.You're right, the old man's a prick.""But.""But that doesn't mean there isn't something Ezra needs out there.It's not as if he's going to be in physical danger.""Why would you assume that?""Dad is seventy.""I just can't see Ezra getting anything good out of it.""That's always the case, in the beginning, with things that appear to be bad.""Don't be so abstract, Lyv.""I'm not talking theory, Elsie.I'm talking about myself.""Come on, Lyv.There's no one—not even mom—that he did more damage to than you.""Yes, and from a height, I see that I owe him a great deal.""Really! Really? So why do you refuse to speak to him?""Because I don't like him.""That's ridiculous.You're telling me to let Ezra do something negative because, at some distant time, down the road, some good might come of it.""You want what's best for him?""Yes, of course.""We always imagine, where our loved ones are concerned, that what's best for them is what is good, what is easy.We say: 'I can't believe she's with him', or, 'he shouldn't be doing that to himself'.How do we know when we can't see the whole picture? We react and judge based on the moment.But there's an entire economy of development here.Maybe what you want for Ezra isn't what he needs right now.Maybe he needs to know where he comes from, maybe he needs to struggle.""He knows exactly where he comes from: us.and his mother.Damn everyone else!""Sister, I'm afraid Ezra's need goes much deeper into the soil than that."He listened to his Walkman as he did the community service work he had been sentenced to do.Elsie and Gord decided that it would be appropriate for him to complete his hours at their church, and at the Pentecostal Assembly he had stolen from.So Ezra pulled weeds, treated brick walls, polished pews, and measured and painted parking lots.He did that and listened to his tapes.Without any money of his own to buy music, he borrowed the originals from Nick Carraway, dug up old blank tapes from around the house, and dubbed them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]