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Contents (26)
  1. Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
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  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. Acknowledgments
  22. About the Author
  23. Books by Jimmy Cajoleas
  24. Back Ad
  25. Copyright
  26. About the Publisher

For a whole minute nobody moved. Then Pop said, “Well, I best be going.”

He turned in the doorway to leave.

Mom finally spoke.

“David,” she said.

Pop stopped and looked back at her, his face so full of hope and sadness I could hardly bear it.

“Thank you,” she said, “for bringing Buddy home.”

Pop smiled a little bit at that. He tipped his hat to her. A spear of sunlight caught his gold tooth and it glistened.

For a second I thought he’d stay. For a second I thought Pop would come in and pull up a chair and sit himself down, and we’d be a family again.

But Pop turned and walked out of the bakery, and I heard him start to whistle a little bit, and in my mind I could see the saunter sneaking back in his steps, the deck of Parsnit cards in the knapsack slung over his shoulder, headed far out of town, to where the soil met water and the Wayward River snaked out before him endlessly.

I hoped he’d come back to visit one day soon.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their skill, bravery, and kindness: Mom, Dad, and Chris, Jess Regel, Andrew Eliopulos, Bria Ragin, Megan Abbott, William Boyle, Phil McCausland, Len Clark, Louisa Whitfield-Smith, P. S. Dean, Mary Marge Locker, Tom Franklin, Jack Pendarvis, and Lewis Nordan. Thanks be to God. And thank you for reading, whoever you are.

About the Author

JIMMY CAJOLEAS grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned his MFA from the University of Mississippi and now lives in Brooklyn. Goldeline was his debut novel. Visit him online at www.jimmycajoleas.com.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

Books by Jimmy Cajoleas

Goldeline

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Copyright

THE RAMBLING. Copyright © 2019 by Jimmy Cajoleas. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

COVER ART © 2019 BY DANIEL BURGESS

COVER DESIGN BY KATIE FITCH

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018939979

Digital Edition MARCH 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-249881-6

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-249878-6

19 20 21 22 23 PC/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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FIRST EDITION

About the Publisher

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