Read Online Kesh by Ralph L Wahlstrom - Free Book Online

you’re going to smother us.”
    She laughed and eased off a bit. “Sorry, guys. I’m just so happy to have my Kesh home, safe and sound.”
    When the scrum broke up, Officer Wolfe shook both parents’ hands and crouched down to Kesh’s level to look into his eyes. He said, “You’re going to be fine, but keep your eyes open, and keep a quick wit. You’re going to need it.” Kesh nodded. Then the policeman added, “The best thing you can do is tell your parents everything. Trust me on this one.”
    Kesh let out a very quiet, private gasp. He had just met this man, and he was hesitant to trust anyone, even a cop. He shot the policeman a look.
    The officer winked. “I know it’s hard and it’s going to get a lot harder before it’s over, but you need to have faith, young man. Have faith.”
    Once again, Kesh caught his breath for a moment. As the big man got back into his squad car, he whispered, “I’ll try.”
    â€œWhat were you thinking, Kesh, running off like that in the middle of the night? We were worried sick.” Kesh could see that his parents were angry, as parents tend to be at times like this, but they were also relieved and visibly sorry for their part in the whole mess. Still, he wasn’t sure of what that part was. How could they have ignored the terrifying scene in the living room? Then again, he thought, maybe that part was just a dream, or, even worse, maybe he was hallucinating.
    He just might be going crazy. Crazy people see things that aren’t there. He thought, Maybe I’m schizophrenic! He didn’t know that much about mental illness, but he’d seen enough movies to know it looked a lot like what he was experiencing. Something had driven him into the cold last night, and nothing about the night was normal.
    For now, though, Kesh was exhausted and relieved to be home and glad to be safe in his father’s arms. Although he was twelve years old, and he knew he should have been embarrassed, he let his head settle onto the strong shoulder, and his attention drifted off to the yard directly across the street, Taylor George’s house. Mrs. George and Taylor were just getting off to school. Kesh blinked. Next to Mrs. George, where Taylor had been just a moment before, was now a low, flat, broad creature with a white stripe blazing up a black forehead and down its back all the way to the tip of its tail. Kesh shook his head and tried to blink away the hallucination, and suddenly it was just Taylor again smiling and waving.
    That night, as he lay in his bed, Kesh tried to sort everything out in his mind. He had a hunch that the badger he had seen in Taylor’s yard was the beginning of a lot of problems. Maybe, he thought, he had actually seen Taylor’s animal spirit. He knew badgers had a reputation for being pretty feisty, even nasty, so it fit his classmate to a tee. Then again, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was seriously nuts. If he was going to be seeing animals all over the place, he needed to know why. As he stared at the dark ceiling above his bed, he imagined he heard, off in the distance, the strangely familiar howl of a coyote.
    He lay awake, unable to sleep, his mind racing across a landscape of darkness and danger and wonder. And he kept thinking about what the policeman had said. “Tell them everything.”
    Finally, he turned over, opened his journal, and began writing.
    Â 
    Okay, so I’m supposed to believe I saw a python and a panther in my living room last night. Then I spent the night following a talking muskrat to a meeting with a talking spider. And I’m supposed to tell my parents about this? They’d think I was out of my friggin’ mind. The whole thing is way too weird. If I try to tell them what really happened they won’t believe me. And why should they? I don’t even believe me. At least I don’t know if I do. They’ll smile and