Poor Boy Road (Jake Caldwell #1) Read Online Free Page B

not to remember their last trip here.
     
    They’d had a particularly good junkyard hunt, Dad finding a needed part to some contraption he was fixing. Old Stony feeling generous, actually hugging his two boys as they went inside, the non-violent physical contact a rarity. Jake peered into the pop cooler while Nicky perused the candy rack. Stony’s thin, steely arm draped around Jake’s neck.
    “You always had a sweet tooth for that orange fizzy shit, Jakey.” He stroked the back of Jake’s head. “Why don’t you get one of them Orange Crushes?”
    “Just wondering if I should try somethin’ new,” Jake said, liking the feel of his dad stroking his ten-year-old head despite the cold band of the ring on Stony’s finger.
    “Nothing good comes outta new things, boy,” Stony said. “Stick with what ya know and you’ll never be disappointed. Come on, pick something. We got shit to do today.”
    Jake grabbed the can of Orange Crush and set it on the counter next to Nicky’s Hershey bar. Stony added three packs of Camel shorts to the haul, which would last him the rest of the day and into tomorrow afternoon at best. Depending on how much he drank.
    Jake and Nicky grinned ear to ear as they strolled out of The Coal Bin. Janey would whine she didn’t get anything, but for now, the brothers were kings. Kings until Nicky tripped over a pothole on his way to the pickup sending his unwrapped candy bar flying through the air, dumping with a puff on the thick dirt in front of the gas pumps. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at his lost treasure.
    “Pick it up,” Stony said after a moment, dark storm clouds rumbling to the east with his clipped cadence. Stony’s mood could turn on a dime. Dust covered Nicky’s candy bar along with a dark liquid. Probably oil leaked from some junk heap. A glop of bird shit rested on the edge, already blending in as the summer sun blast melted the chocolate.
    “Pick it up,” Stony repeated, each word a menacing statement. Jake tightened his grip on the Orange Crush can.
    “But, Daddy,” Nicky protested. Stony took a step toward them and leaned forward, his bared, yellow teeth inches from Nicky’s face.
    “Boy, I paid a quarter for that candy bar and you will pick it up in the next two seconds or you will be one sorry little son of a bitch.”
    Nicky picked up the candy bar by the end, holding it in front of him between his thumb and index finger, like a dead rat he held by the tail. He shook it. Some of the dust fell away, but the dab of bird shit clung to the end of the bar, white with black speckles.
    “Eat it!”
    Nicky looked at Jake in horror, desperate for some support. Jake dropped his gaze to his wiggling big toe sticking out of his hand-me-down tennis shoes. There was nothing he could do.
    “Eat it,” Stony repeated.
    “But it has bird poop and dirt on it,” Nicky said, his voice the high-pitched whine that set their father off every time. Jake cast a quick glance to the old man’s wry smile.
    “I don’t give a damn what it’s covered in, boy. I give you a treat and you throw it on the ground like we got money coming out our asses. Now, eat it. And if you try to wipe off anything from that candy bar before it goes into your whiny fucking mouth, I’ll beat your little ass until you can’t sit for a week.”
    Tears rolled down Nicky’s face as he brought the shit-covered chocolate bar to his mouth. Jake held out his Orange Crush for Nicky to wash down his punishment. Stony’s hand shot out like a striking snake and knocked it from his hand. His soda fizzed in the dirt before Jake scrambled to grab the can. He hurried to the pickup, away from his brother and Stony. He faced the truck and raised his head to the cloudless sky. Nicky began to cry.
     
    The slam of the front door to The Coal Bin scattered the echoes of Nicky’s cries. A farmer emerged from the store with a pack of cigarettes in his hand. Jake climbed into his truck. He’d thought about going