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Freddy Krueger flashed a little wave as Calvin turned off the alarm. He took in a huge lungful of air. What if I pull back the blanket and some jack-in-the-box demon pops up, with hellfire eyes and incisors humming to tear out your throat? |
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Come on, this isn't some chiller-thriller flick. It's your son. Calvin pulled back the spread. |
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Matty lay in a fetal curl. A wave of relief washed through Calvin as he took in the boy. The light caught the sweet profile, the lightly freckled nose, the red full lips, the thick rich canopy of hair with its little tail inching down the back of his neck. As often, the baby finger of his left hand was partway in his mouth, like a pacifier. For a flickering moment Calvin beheld the toddler in his crib, a menagerie of downy stuffed critters snuggling around his head. Calvin's heart ached. |
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The boy stirred, a small sigh escaping his throat. Calvin could smell his breath. A sharp odor. Sleep breath, he told himself. |
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Calvin drew the curtains and pulled up the blinds. Daylight flooded the room. From this angle Calvin could see no signs of the night drama. No scratches or blood. He pulled back the sheet. Matty was dressed in a Red Sox T-shirt and underpants. No telltale signs. (He was still startled, though, at all the hair on his legs and arms.) He stretched the sheet back over him. |
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He patted his shoulder. "Matty. Time to get up." |
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He didn't move. Calvin shook him gently, no response. Finally, after a full minute or more, Matty frowned and opened his eyes. He blinked, rolled his head around, squinting up at Calvin as though without recognition. He squeezed his eyes against the light. |
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Calvin swallowed. "G'morning, champ. Eight o'clock. You overslept." His face was clean. There was dirt under his fingernails, but there usually was. He was a boy, after all. "Whyn't you clean up?" |
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Matty nodded and got up, his hands shielding his eyes from the sunlight. Without a word, he padded out of his room and into the bathroom, the oversize shirt hanging on him like a sack. |
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It was a scene so unextraordinary, so altogether homey that Calvin felt stunned he had ever entertained such horrendous suspi- |
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