In The Absence Of Light by Adrienne Wilder Page A

color?” I said.
    “Blue? You?”
    “Yellow or green. It’s a toss-up.”
    “What kind of music do you listen to?” Morgan said.
    “I’m not particular. Depends on my mood really.”
    “Me either. But I like to listen to classical when I work on my sculptures.”
    “You sculpt?”
    “Sorta.”
    “How do you sorta sculpt?”
    He laughed. “It’s hard to explain. I’ll have to show you sometime.”
    “I’d like that… I tried to draw when I was in high school, but it didn’t work out.”
    “How come?”
    “Well, for starters, I couldn’t draw.” I grinned even though he couldn’t see it. But I had a feeling he would know anyhow.
    “I would definitely say that’d be a requirement.”
    “I might have gotten better if I’d kept at it, but playing football was easier, and I got to stare at a lot of nice ass.”
    “If art isn’t your thing, what is?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What kind of hobbies do you have?”
    I hadn’t really thought about it. “Right now it’s fixing the house. I’m pretty sure that’ll keep me occupied for a while.”
    “And after?”
    “I don’t know. I could get a dog.”
    Morgan laughed again. It was my new favorite sound. “A dog isn’t a hobby.”
    “Okay a boat.”
    “Neither is a boat, unless you plan on building it.”
    “Not unless I want it to sink.”
    “Then you're zero to two, Grant. Better think fast.”
    I tugged on my bottom lip. “Well, I could take up fishing.”
    “Hmmm, yeah. That could work.”
    “Do you fish?”
    “Sometimes. Not as much as I used to. I’m too busy with work and my sculptures.”
    “You’re definitely going to have to show them to me.”
    “I will. I promise.”
    “Did you learn to sculpt in college?”
    “Never went.” Was that disappointment in his voice?
    “Jenny said you got a full scholarship.”
    “I did.”
    “Then how come you didn’t go?”
    Morgan snorted.
    “What?” I said.
    “Nothing.”
    “I must have said something funny.”
    “The fact you even asked.”
    “Why you didn’t go to college?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, why didn’t you?”
    He shifted in his seat. “I don’t do well with change, so I stick close to home.”
    “Lots of people get homesick when they go away to college, Morgan. It’s perfectly normal.”
    He sighed. “Will you say that again?”
    “Say what?”
    “Normal. How it’s perfectly normal.”
     
    ********
     
    Pale pink and yellow bled into the night from the east. As light returned to the world, so did the trees, the grass, the roads.
    So did I. And so did Morgan.
    But I’d been changed by the dark. I promised myself I’d never forget there were things beyond the light, and if I wasn’t careful, they’d be lost.
    Forever.
    And now everything I’d missed about Morgan was revealed. His longish nose and rounded chin. The dusting of a fine gold five o’clock shadow.
    Morgan was average height with square shoulders. Yet still looked stronger than seemed possible. But I think that was because his strength had nothing to do with the tawny muscles running down his elegant arms and legs.
    I parked in front of his house, and he got out.
    “Do you want to go get some lunch after a while?” I said.
    “I might not be up.”
    “Well, how about supper?”
    “As long as it’s not Toolies.” Morgan graced me with a rare glimpse of his eyes.
    “Promise.” I made an X over my heart. “No Toolies.”
    “You realize the only other place to eat on Sunday is in Maysville.”
    “Is that where you want to go?” I’d take him. Even if the truck broke down and I had to carry him on my back.
    Morgan leaned against the doorframe. “It’s probably not a good idea on the weekend. It gets really busy and loud.”
    “Okay.”
    “I know that doesn’t leave much.” He shook his head. “Actually it leaves nothing except the convenience store hotdogs."
    I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel. “Do you have a grill?”
    “Sure.”
    “Then how about this. I