NOVEL
WOODY PAUL GRAY
INTRODUCTION
While the skillful painter was drawing a bitterly cold, absolutely quiet, dark-blue night: black, crenelated pine tree tops in the background of the bluish-purple sky vastly covered with the sparkling silver stars, I was peacefully sleeping on my hard spartan berth dreaming about my next school day. This fall the first snow has fallen much earlier than usual covering the native Upville with thick, soft white blanket glittering in the light of the brightly shining sun. Amazingly, that in just one short night the town shifted from the colorful golden autumn to the fabulous white winter. The air was cold, fresh and so clear.
I got into my old Ford car and headed to the downtown. Luckily, the road was cleared from the snow by the time the first car appeared on the road. It took me half an hour to get to school. I`ve parked the car in front of the school on a big parking lot. Today I got much earlier to my job as usual as though I could foreseen something terrible that had happened the previous night. The first pupil that came into my class that memorable morning had told me the scary accident that happened the previous night. He was coming up to the school building when he saw the naked body of a young boy with his head sank in a small river and his body totally covered by the sick snow and only his feet barefooted could be seen from under the white snow blanket. He called immediately the police and went to school/ His skin body was still shivering of fear and eyes full of tears.
-" It seems I had know him so far as i can judge from the color of his hair, but I can`t remember for sure. I`m so scared! How could someone kill a small boy, undress him and throw into the river at night?" - he was sobbing and couldn`t stop crying.
-"Come here, Ben! Calm down! You`ve done the only thing you could to that poor soul. Now it`s the job of police to investigate the crime, find the killer, or, killers and you cannot do more. Just calm you down! The soul of that boy is already in heaven and he`s looking from over there peacefully under the protection of our Lord. Maybe you`d like to go home?" - asked I worriedly.
-"No, noway!. I`d better stay together with my class. This will help me better to
overcome the fear I feel inside my body. Thank you, Mr. Meadwater! I`ll be fine!" - and he went to the corridor to meet his classmates.
