Dark Witness Read Online Free Page B

Robert turned around thinking it would be polite to talk to God face-to-face, but He was quick. He disappeared himself really good only to come back and start talking again when Robert turned his back. God, Robert deduced, was a practical joker or shy or something. Maybe God didn't really look like his pictures – which were all pretty awesome – and was ashamed to be seen. Didn't Robert just get that one for sure? But God was a real good talker. He sounded so normal, chuckling a little, offering a tiny suggestion, a cosmic push that eventually made Robert turn the boat toward shore, tie up, and get off. In fact, God directed Robert to the shore just about where Duncan said he would. Duncan and God were very close.
    God wanted Robert to go look for the hole in the universe. That's what He said. Look for the hole in the universe. When Robert found that, he would find something good. It might be treasure. First, though, he had to relieve himself.
    Robert tied up, got off the boat, and trudged a little ways away from the riverbank. He snapped the safety pin that held his pants together, unzipped his zipper, and whipped it out.
    "In front of God and everyone," Robert said aloud, in his slightly high and nasal voice.
    He thought this was quite funny because, as he deduced, there was no 'everyone' in the forest, and God had already seen his 'equipment' since He had made it in the first place. Robert was concluding that his deduction was correct – that there was nothing to be ashamed of by peeing in the forest when – Bam! Wham! Bam!
    God screamed in Robert's left ear so loud Robert poked his substantial tummy with the safety pin before he clasped it shut, and then he forgot to zip up his pants. That's how much of a rush he was in to do God's bidding and find the hole in the universe.
    Looking around all he saw was forest and more forest. Left and right, behind him and in front of him. God and Duncan had given him directions by the compass so he took it out, considered it, and then started walking north and a little east.
    It was hard to go as fast as God wanted because Robert was a big boned man. That's what Duncan said. Big boned. Not fat. Not obese. Not grotesque. Big boned. No matter what he was, he couldn't hurry very long so he walked some of the way and then stopped at an outcropping of rock. He steadied himself by putting an arm on a ledge and thinking both God and Duncan had got the whole thing wrong. He didn't see a road. All he saw above him were the mountains rising to dizzying heights. Before he could look closely, he was distracted by the sound of a plane. Or at least he thought he heard the sound of a plane
    In the years Robert had lived in this place, he had only actually seen one plane. It landed in the river with its motor sputtering and coughing. That day Robert stopped what he was doing, sat behind a stand of trees, and watched the pilot work on the motor. Then the man sat on the pontoons for another hour and napped. If Robert had a gun he could have shot that man dead or wounded him and taken him prisoner or just, well, shot him. Robert could also have taken the plane.
    But Robert had no gun.
    And Robert didn't know how to fly a plane.
    And Robert wouldn't have done either of those things because that wasn't how things were supposed to go. Duncan was very keen on how things were supposed to go. God told Pea, the prophetess, who told Duncan, the interpreter, who then told Robert and Melody and Glenn and Teresa and the others how things were supposed to go. That's how order was done, so that was why Robert didn't hurt the pilot of that plane. Because no one told him to.
    It was just interesting to Robert that he had been so close, and the man never knew he was there. In Alaska, keeping yourself apart was as much a choice as making yourself known. That's the way it was in heaven, too. Apart. Together. Known. Unknown. Within. Without. Face your sins, make up for them, be forgiven, be healed, be peaceful, and be