Chapter 30Back in Brownstown, it was raining heavily. The sky was roofed with clouds, a solid blanket over every gray inch of the city. The dead, dark smokestacks of Global Steel jutted into the grayness, their outlines blurred as if they were melting candle-like in the downpour. The river was slowly rising, inching its way up the concrete banks as rainwater swelled it. Everything was the same as Joe remembered it, bleak and foreboding as it always seemed to be. It was a dying, dirty place, crumbling daily and washing away in the rusty stream of the Stonybank River.
Despite the dismal nature of the place, Joe exulted as he toured it. At last, he felt like he was home, like he was back where he belonged. Until that day, he hadn't realized how much he'd truly missed the place, and ho
