Grinder

Michael Knowles

Informations

• Publié par: Ecw Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554908950
• Langue: English

Extrait

“Fine, polished narrative that makes it look so easy — the sign of a real pro. Grinderis a terrific read.” — Ken Bruen, Shamus Award winner

GRINDER A MYSTERY MIKE KNOWLES

$24.95

Pointy Shoes let out a sigh of relief just before my fist crushed his collar bone like a beer can. The blow knocked the air out of him, pushing with it any means of screaming. To his credit, Pointy Shoes stayed standing; he just crumpled inward like he was a balloon losing air. My heavy work boot smashed his instep knocking him off balance and into my hands. The fishing and rehabilitation had turned my grip into something close to a vise. His greasy hair had nowhere to go in my hands but down, dragging his face to my rising knee. Pointy Shoes fell to the old saltsoaked boards as though he were poured from a cup. His body just splashed unconscious at my feet. The few leftover fishermen were too far away to see what had just happened in four seconds beside theWendy, and the sound couldn’t have carried over the roar of motors and lapping water. I bent down and loosened the rest of the ropes holding the boat to the dock. Once the boat was free, I pulled Pointy Shoes into a fireman’s carry. I laughed to myself when I realized that hold ing a fullgrown man on my shoulders and climbing a ladder onto a boat were close to effortless. I had healed in time.

M I K E

K N O W L E S GRINDER GRINDER

ECW

GRINDER

GRINDER

KNOWLES M I KE ECW Press

Copyright © Mike Knowles,2009

Published by ECW Press 2120Queen Street East, Suite200, Toronto, Ontario, Canadam4e 1e2 416.694.3348 /[e-mail]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press.

library and archives canada cataloguing in publication

isbn: 978-1-55022-895-3

Knowles, Mike Grinder / Mike Knowles.

I. Title.

ps8621.n67g74 2009 c813'.6 c2009-902537-x

Editor: Edna Barker Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan Cover Image © George Cairns / iStockphoto Typesetting: Mary Bowness Printing: Friesens1 2 3 4 5

The publication ofGrinderhas been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested$20.1million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Government of Ontario through Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, by the OMDC Book Fund, an initiative of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and by the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp).

printed and bound in canada

For Andrea. It could be for no one else.

CHAPTER ONE

saw him before he even thought I might be the one he was looking for. In one moment all the months of work, I  I saw him, out of place on the wharf. honest work, that I thought had worn down what I was, proved worthless. His clothing was too metrosexual to be local, and too dance club to be tourist. The jeans were expensive and artificially worn in around the thighs and crotch. His shirt was not cotton, but rather some kind of stretchy blend that stood out unnaturally in the sunlight. The worst was the shoes, their leather shiny and the tips pointed. I knew he was an outsider, and part of me, the part I tried to bury, knew exactly where he was from. I saw him, but he couldn’t see me — not yet. The ocean had changed me enough. I was leaner, harder, and my skin was the colour of worn leather. My hair was long under my hat and my beard was far past the scratchy stage. My clothes were old and worn. I made sure I looked like everyone else who lived on the island before I left the house each day. As I walked around the boat getting ready

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