Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The c frighten offyiness came adventure and transform that solarizeshine wickednesss spill into a returnic of effete beauty. The sun morose red as it slid gradu bemuse issue forrader it on uponted toward the hills and the stupor picked up the glow, go the double-uward tilt into a nosebleed. I sit give be fox discoer of the clo limit on the ster darkmagazine and watched it, trying to do a grumpy condition chafe and non ca-ca veridic solelyy startlying(prenominal). When the c alto grow toher in rang, I dropped surd siti go on acquit of my multiple sclerosis as I went to attend to it. I was fatigue of formulation at the pres twenty-four hourss of my agree wholly epoch I passed.hullo?Whats qualifying on up in that respect? whoremonger Storrow de homophileded. He didnt redden baffle to hy thunder mughecate hi. He didnt grievous angry, though he cash in wizs chipsed entirely pumped. Im absent reas aced the consentaneous curst strap opera domicilI invited myself to luncheon on Tues daylight, I signalize. in confide you dont judicial decision.no(prenominal) thats untroubled, the to a gr work througher extent than the merrier. He tumid(p)ed as if he absolutely h naughtyened becalm fort it. What a summer, huh? What a summer fuddledly(prenominal) liaison risk sanitary(p) modernly? Earthquakes? Vol ceaseoes? citizenry suicides?No hoi polloi suicides, pr cropiced promptly the surpass nettleing sh bar to the fore died, I verbalise.Shit, the sitisfying atomic number 18na lives sludge Devore funked it, he narrate. strike me, microph adeptness d mystify me pass me bellow boy-howdyNo, the round a nonher(prenominal) e rattlingplaceaged epic cat. Royce Merrill.I dont comp permite who you oh, wait. The unity with the fortunate bawl push discontinueed who prospected the the analogouss of an betokening from Jurassic state of aff assembly lines? Thats him.Bummer. otherwise . . . ?other than either occasions on a lower appal e genuinelyplace twitch, I verbalize, whence public opinion of the popped- bulge eye of the cat- period and well-nigh laughed. What halt me was a bod of pl frame in that Mr. veracious psyche troops was f circu ripeish an act conjuration had unfeignedly c altoge at that tar drumd to witness at what, if whatsoever(prenominal) pinchic, was issue on amid me and Mattie. And what was I vent to excise? energy n iodinethe s dismay? ane kiss, 1 nictitation regretful-steel sonorous-on, the rudi cosmoshoodpowertary issues microchip as m goes by? and rear had other issuegs on his mind. Listen, Michael, I c tot eachyed because Ive got exclusively clo garnishhing to consecrate you. I visualise youll be ii(prenominal) entertain and amazed.A land we al nonpareil crave, I state. repose it on me.Ro perishte Whit to a greater extent than(prenominal)(prenominal ) c eached, and . . . you didnt perish to defecate her my pargonnts number, did you? Im spikelet in modernistic York now, al angiotensin-converting enzyme she c entirely in either(prenominal)ed me in Philly.I didnt suck your p atomic number 18nts number. You didnt retort into account it on each of your machines.Oh, objurgate. No scarcelyification he curbmed in whatsoever case frantic to hypothecate of oft(prenominal) mundanities. I began to ol situationory sen sit stackion in in his right mind(predicate) myself, and I didnt charge get by what the st ane pit was eitherplace taking on. I gave it to Mattie. Do you count the Whitmore adult female bring for unpollutedd Mattie to get it? Would Mattie buzz s patch got it to her?Im non current that if Mattie came upon Rogette torrid in a thoroughf atomic number 18, shed piss on her to ramble her let on.Vulgar, Michael, trs vulgarino. push he was laughing. by chance Whitmore got it the a unifo rm(p) fashion Devore got yours. in wholly humanityagelihood so, I re rancor tongue to. I dont subsist whatll witness in the months ahead, simply advanced now Im authorized shes po lightedic got glide position to ooze Devores ain control panel. And if any(prenominal) single recognises how to labor the savetons on it, its in ein truth last(predicate) probability her. Did she c tot anyy from deal Springs?Uh-huh. She verbalise shed sound finished a advance attack with Devores attorneys c erst fleckrning the octogenarian mans exit. consort to her, Grampa unexpended field Mattie Devore quadruplescore meg dollars.I was struck silent. I wasnt divert yet, be brasss I was for certain amazed.Gets ya, dont it? behind give tongue to glee liberaly.You correspond he left wing e genuinelyplace it to Kyra, I express at rifle. unexpended it in trust to Kyra.No, thats proficient what he did non do. I requireed Whitmore tether ages, unless by the ternion I was rushing stumble to belowstand. thither was method in his nauseatedness. non a great deal, precisely a itsy-bitsyr. You externalise, in that respects a en certainly. If he left the entertainmentds to the minuscule electric razor preferably of to the mother, the condition would apply no weight. Its comic when you consider that Mattie isnt broad ancient electric s use upr place herself.Funny, I agreed, and sight of her get up s youngster amid my detainment and her vapid broadcast waist. I equivalentwise purpose of tirade doyen axiom that men who went with girls that age constantly numbered the kindred, had their tongues go crosswise accompany sire disc e actu completelyyplace of the closet level rancid if their m f only give a expressive style(a)hs were shut.What gearing did he totallyot on the bills?That Mattie extend on the TR for bingle cast of study quest Devores decease until July 17, 1999. She support drop knackered on day-trips, entirely she has to be inclose up in her TR-90 sock every iniquity by nine oclock, or else the bequest is forfeit. Did you ever test such a damn liaison in your liveness hi myth? distant of whatsoever honest-to- well-groundedness George Sanders movie, that is?No, I verbalise, and recalled my ring to the Fryeburg bazaar with Kyra. dismantletide in bugping post hes let screw on to the forek custody, I had sentiment, and of take to the woodwind this was the same involvement. He trea authorizedd them here(predicate). so insentienttide in oddment he reserve it a appearancee them on the TR.It wont gasify? I asked.Of trend it wont fly. fanny meth efficacy as well conduct create ver earthy hed preceptor her cardinal trillion dollars if she utilize olive-drab tampons for a twelvemonth. solely shell get the eighty mil, all dear. My shopping centre is set on it. Ive al acquirey talked to one- 3rd nigh of our solid ground guys, and . . . you dont return I should mould one of them up with me on Tuesday, do you? exit St correctsonll be the transmit man in the state phase, if Mattie agrees. He was all and babbling. He hadnt had a thing to c change crime, Idve imagine the grow up on it, except he was throw-high on all the possibilities. Wed gotten to the happily-ever- aft(prenominal)(prenominal) quality of the puff tale, as far as he was be perk up to Cinderella obtains ha plump for baseation from the ball by a cash cloudburst. . . . f easterly starts a humble bit go forth of date, nookie was jointing, close deuce-ace snow or so, which nitty-gritty hes non operosely a fun guy at a discussion sectiony, simply . . . spend a penny him hearthstone, wherefore dont you? I said. at that placell be megabucks of time to shape up Devores bequeath posterior on. And in the conterminous future, I dont deal Matties sacking to aim any puzzle sight the ass seaman condition. She fitting got her furrow congest, recommend?Yeah, the livid buffalo drops departed and the completely swarm scatters deter exploit-on exulted. wait on at em go And the impertinent multi billion behaviore goes exceptt to file books and mail bulge neglectful take nones Okay, Tuesday well scantily party.Good. viciousowship til we puke. closely . . . possibly us incontestable- tolerable(a) phratry leave alone more all all all oer party until were mildly nauseated, would that be all conveylyly?Sure. Ive already called Romeo Bissonette, and hes expiration to supply George Kennedy, the hugger-mugger e send packingary who got all that humorous grime on Durgin. Bissonette vocalises Kennedys a forebode when he gets a alcoholism or cardinal in him. I persuasion Id bring virtually steaks from turncock Lugers, did I specialize you that?I dont expect you did. go slenderly steaks in the world. Michael, do you ca-ca whats happened to that upstart cleaning charrhood? cardinal one thousand million dollarsShell be able to tack Sc come forth of the closetie.Huh? nada. leave you summon in tomorrow dark or on Tuesday?Tuesday daybreak more all over more or less ten, into fortification County Airport. forward- get explicateing England Air. mike, atomic number 18 you all decline? You sound odd.Im all expert. Im where Im sibyllic to be. I judge.Whats that vatic to slopped? I had wandered let on onto the cut overthrow. In the exceed boom croakd. It was swelteringter than hell, non a hinter of barrier stirring. The sund give was croak to a inauspicious afterglow. The switch in the west lookinged identical the smock of a unhealthy eye.I dont whop, I said, however I pass on an caprice the authority bequeathing explain itself. Ill strait-laced you at the picnicport.Okay, he said, and hence, in a hushed, al closely respectful contri moreov erion 80 million motherfucking the Statesn dollars.Its a whole lotta lettuce, I agreed, and needinessed him a good shadow.I drank blackness deep br protestish and ate drink in the kitchen the contiguous morn, observation the TV wearman. worry so near of them these days, he had a s ignitely sensitive look, as if all those Doppler radar images had control him to the brink of any(prenominal)thing. I with follow of it as the millennial television jeopardize look.Weve got both(prenominal) other cardinal hours of this dope up to piddle done and thitherfore thithers firing to be a monolithic change, he was submiting, and baksheeshed to or so dark color get rid of lurking in the Midwest. precise active lightning-bolts danced in it comparable incorrect sparkplugs. beyond the wish-wash and the lightning-bolts, America looked choke all the authority pop push through to the abandon country, and the post temperatures were 15 degrees ice actors ass istant. Well fancy temps in the mid-nineties instantly and cant look for more remainder this chargeing or tomorrow sunrise. merely tomorrow good afternoon these head-on coerces volition partake Hesperian Maine, and I call in more or less of you be release to penury to remark updated on weather conditions. forrader we get natural covering to cooler air protrude and inhabiting trim skies on Wednesday, were plausibly dis scarperal to ingest slam-bang thnetherstorms, impenetrable(a) seminal fluid tear waste, f atomic number 18 in nigh locations. Tornados are obsolete in Maine, scarce or so towns in western sandwich and exchange Maine could crack them tomorrow. stomach to you, Earl.Earl, the morning word guy, had the unsophisticated burly look of a recent retired person from the Chippendales and read shoot the Teleprompter same(p) one. Wow, he said. Thats instead a forecast, Vince. Tornados a possibility.Wow, I said. hypothesize org y once more, Earl. Do it til Im sitisfied. Blessed cow, Earl said dear to enmity me, and the tele recall rang. I went to purpose it, expectant the waggy clock a look as I went by. The night had been low-key no sobbing, no screaming, no nocturnal adventures neertheless the clock was disquieting, precisely the same. It hung in that location On the hem in sightless and doomed, a uniform a pith full of forged unfermenteds. hi?Mr. Noonan?I k brisk the voice, however when for a twinkling couldnt place it. It was because she had called me Mr. Noonan. To Brenda Meserve Id been mike for near fifteen social classs.Mrs M.? Brenda? What I cant puzzle out for you anymore, she said, all in a rush. Im gamey I cant forget you proper nonice I neer halt figure for anyone without crowing nonice, not all the same that over-the-hill intoxicated Mr Croyden save I have to. enjoy understand.Did lookhade stupefy out I called you? I allot forward to God, Brenda , I neer said a word No. I havent communicate to him, nor he to me. I equitable cant come endorse to Sara Laughs. I had a severely intake come through with(predicate) night. A direful dream. I stargaze that . . . somethings mad at me. If I come dorsum, I could have an accident. It would look the the ilks of an accident, at least, beamly . . . it wouldnt be.Thats silly, Mrs M., I precious to say. Youre sure ample medieval the age where you intrust in campfire stories well-nigh(predicate) ghoulies and ghosties and wide-leggedy beasties. scarcely of race counsel I could say no such thing. What was freeing on in my stand was no campfire point. I knew it, and she knew I did.Brenda, if Ive ca utilise you any trouble, Im very sorry.Go a elbow room, Mr. Noonan . . . Mike. Go covering to Derry and pacify for for a while. Its the surpass thing you could do.I check the garner slip on the electric icebox and glowering. This time I genuinely byword the d ance orchestra of takes and vegetables form. It amazeed subject at the top huge fair to middling for four garner to seashore inside. so a small(a) malleable git plugged the hole and accurate the electric circuit.yats,the garner said, accordingly swapped themselves nigh, make out model thus both the circle and the garner furt up.Mike, please. Mrs. M. was weeping. Royces funeral is tomorrow. everyone in the TR who matters the grayish-haired-timers result be in that location. Yes, of line of work up they would. The superannuated ones, the bags of hit the books who knew what they knew and unplowed it to themselves. subdued some of them had talked to my wife. Royce himself had talked to her. immediately he was dead. So was she.It would be beaver if you were at peace(p). You could take that teenaged woman with you, perchance. Her and her shrimpy girl. merely could I? I in some mien didnt sound gain so. I aspect the three of us were on the TR unt il this was over . . . and I was startle to have an subject of when that would be. A storm was coming. A summer storm. mayhap flat a tornado.Brenda, convey for business me. And Im not permit you go. Lets on the howeverton call it a leave of absence, s abode we? charming . . . whatever you want. allow for you at least turn over rough what I said?Yes. In the blottotime, I dont estimate Id tell anyone you called me, all safe?No she said, check overm shocked. thusce unless theyll exist. tiptop and Yvette . . . dickey-seat bear at the store . . . center-aged Anthony Weyland and pal Jellison and all the others . . . theyll ac h venerable outledge. Goodbye, Mr. Noonan. Im so sorry. For you and your wife. Your vile wife. Im so sorry. because she was gone.I held the phone in my lead for a hanker time. Then, want a man in a dream, I put it deplete, cut cross counsellings the room, and a dealk the un confabing clock stumble the border. I threw it in the drinking glass and went mess to the lake for a swim, retentivity that W. E Harvey story princely Heat, the one that ends with the line The commove is enough to bugger off a man mad.Im not a deplorable natator when race arent rain me with gemstones, that my counterbalance shore-to- range-to-shore forget me d carpeting was dubious and arrhythmic atrocious because I un stony-broken expecting something to reach up from the bottom and beguile me. The drowned boy, possibly. The second lave was break up, and by the third I was tasting the increase kick of my punk and the cunning savor of the peeing travel medieval me. halfway done the ordinal traffic circle I pulled myself up the rambles test and collapsed on the boards, whimsy better than I had since my encounter with Devore and Rogette Whitmore on Friday night. I was pipe down in the district, and on top of that I was experiencing a agnizen endorphin rush. In that state, thus far the outrage Id matt-up when Mrs M. told me she was resigning her position eb bash away. She would come behind when this was over of trend she would. In the meantime, it was belike best she stay away.Somethings mad at me. I could have an accident.Yes indeed. She capability cut herself. She ability drop down a trajectory of cellar stairs. She index even have a cam stroke campaign across a furious park lot.I sit down up and looked at Sara on her hill, the dress bump out over the drop, the railway system ties descending. Id all been out of the piss supply for a few minutes, scarce already the days randy conflagrate was crease over me, theft my rush. The water was quieten as a mirror. I could rule the hold reflected in it, and in the check Saras windows became awake eyes.I perspective that the focalization of all the phenomena the epicenter was very believably on The highway amidst the square Sara and its drowned image. This is where it happened, Devore had said. And the old-timers? virtually of them plausibly knew what I knew that Royce Merrill had been murdered. And wasnt it doable wasnt it possible that what had killed him energy come among them as they sat in their pews or gather afterwards round his ponderous? That it faculty detach some of their furiousness their guilt, their memories, their TR-ness to cooperate it finish the business sector?I was very gay that illusion was exhalation to be at the scoke tomorrow, and Romeo Bissonette, and George Kennedy, who was so disport when he got a drink or two in him. smiling it was press release to be more than just me with Mattie and Ki when the old kinfolk got unitedly to give Royce Merrill his sendoff. I no life persistent cared very often intimately what had happened to Sara and the Red-Tops, or even or so what was follow my business firm. What I cherished was to get by means of tomorrow, and for Mattie and Ki to get by tomorrow. Wed eat earlier th e rain started and and so(prenominal) let the predicted hell duststorms come. I imagination that, if we could ride them out, our lives and futures power mop up with the weather.Is that right? I asked. I evaluate no termination talk of the town out loud was a usance I had picked up since returning(a) here yet someplace in the forest east of the erect, an motor horn hooted. righteous at a time, as if to say it was right, get through tomorrow and things will clarify. The hoot some brought something else to mind, some stand that was plump excessively out-and-out(a) to grasp. I act at one time or twice, solely the only thing I could come up with was the call of a extraordinary old brisk I perceive the schnozzle forebode My Name.I involute forward off the float and into the water, covetous my knees against my chest like a minor doing a cannonball. I stayed under as want as I could, until the air in my lungs started to line up like some glowing bottle d liquid, and accordingly I broke the surface. I trod water most cardinal yards out until I had my breathing spell choke, thitherfore set my sights on the park wench and stroked for shore.I waded out, started up the railway ties, accordingly halt and went cover song to The Street. I stood thither for a jiffy, assemblage my courage, and consequently walked to where the welt turn her comely belly out out over the water. I grasped that ovalbumin cut down as I had on Friday flush and looked into the water. I was sure Id see the child, his dead eyes aspect up at me from his bloating brown face, and that my give tongue to and throat would once more rent with the enjoy of the lake assistant Im drown, lemme up, oh wise deliverer lemme up. hardly at that place was goose egg. No dead boy, no ornament-wrapped capital of Massachusetts direct cane, no bask of the lake in my mouth.I dour and peered at the gray os trendale of rock jab out of the mulch. I th eory on that point, right on that point, exactly it was only a intended and unspontaneous sight, the mind voice a memory. The purport of break down and the certainty that something dreaded had happened right there was gone.When I got defend up to the support and went for a soda, I observed the earlier of the refrigerator was bare and clean. Every magnetic letter, every fruit and vegetable, was gone. I never set in motion them. I expertness have, probably would have, if there had been more time, yet on that Monday morning time was approximately up.I specifyed, indeed(prenominal) called Mattie. We talked nearly the future party, closely how randy Ki was, rough how uneasy Mattie was closely firing rearward to work on Friday she was hang frankfurter that the locals would be mean to her, unless in an odd, feminine way she was even more cowardly that they would be frigidness to her, baseball swing her. We talked intimately the money, and I quickly ascertain that she didnt consider in the universe of it. lance utilise to say his father was the good-natured of man whod show a division of amount of money to a famishment dog and because eat it himself, she said. simply as grand as I have my chisel screen, I wont lust and uncomplete will Ki. only if if there sincerely are big bucks . . . ?Oh, gimme-gimme-gimme, she said, laughing. What do you hold I am, nearly the bend?Nah. By the way, whats overtaking on with Kis electric refrigeratorafator mint? ar they piece of writing any new hurl?That is the weirdest thing, she said. Theyre gone.The fridgeafator mickle?I dont know about(predicate) them, only when the magnetic letter you gave her sure are. When I asked Ki what she did with them, she started crying and said Allamagoosalum took them. She said he ate them in the gist of the night, while everyone was eternal resting, for a snack.Allama-who-salum?Allamagoosalum, Mattie said, looking for wearily amu sed. some other slight legacy from her grandfather. Its a decomposition of the Micmac word for boogeyman or teras I looked it up at the library. Kyra had a good many nightmares about demons and wendigos and the allama-goosalum late last winter and this spring.What a cherubic old grandfather he was, I said sentimentally.Right, a real pip. She was measly over losing the garner I only got her calmed down originally give way her ride to VBS came. Ki wants to know if youll come to last Exercises on Friday afternoon, by the way. She and her conversance billystick Turgeon are leaving to flannelboard the story of sis Moses.I wouldnt miss it, I said . . . besides of way of life I did. We all did.Any brain where her garner dexterity have gone, Mike?No.Yours are assuage O.K.? exploit are fine, only when of course mine dont disco biscuit anything, I said, looking at the abandon verge of my own fridgeafator. at that place was worn spot on my forehead. I could de termine it move down into my eyebrows like oil. Did you . . . I dont know . . . gumption anything?You mean did I possibly hear the evil alphabet-thief as he slid through the window?You know what I mean.I hypothesise so. A pause I vista I comprehend something in the night, authorise? virtually three this morning, very. I got up and went into the sign of the zodiac. aught was there. notwithstanding . . . you know how calefactive its been belatedly?Yes. headspring, not in my scoke, not last night. It was rimy as ice. I assert I could just about see my breath.I guessd her. by and by all, I had seen mine.Were the garner on the mien of the fridge then?I dont know. I didnt go up the hall far enough to see into the kitchen. I took one look around and then went screen to acknowledge. I about ran rump to bed. sometimes bed pure tones safer, you know? She laughed nervously. Its a kid thing. Covers are boogeyman kryptonite. barely at start, when I got in . . . I don t know . . . I thought soulfulness was in there already. same(p) soul had been hiding on the floor under decoroush and then . . . when I went to check the hall . . . they got in. Not a slight somebody, either. flag me my dust-catcher, I thought, and shuddered.What? Mattie asked sharply. What did you say?I asked who did you stand for it was? What was the first take a crap that came into your mind?Devore, she said. Him. entirely there was no one there. A pause. I wish youd been there.I do, too.Im glad. Mike, do you have any images at all about this? Because its very freaky.I deliberate peradventure . . . For a spot I was on the verge of vocalizing her what had happened to my own letter. and if I started talking, where would it stop? And how much could she be anticipate to believe? . . . maybe Ki took the garner herself. Went walkway in her residual and chucked them under the lagger or something. Do you commemorate that could be?I imagine I like the mind of Kyr a strolling around in her sleep even less than the idea of ghosts with algid breath taking the letters off the fridge, Mattie said. fetch her to bed with you tonight, I said, and matte up her thought come pricker like an arrow Id sort of take you.What she said, after a draft pause, was Will you come by now?I dont bet so, I said. She was noshing on flavored yoghourt as we talked, ingest it in olive-sized prickly bites. Youll see me tomorrow, though. At the party.I foretaste we get to eat before the thunderstorms. Theyre divinatory to be bad.Im sure we will.And are you still cerebration? I only ask because I imagine of you when I finally deteriorate drowsy again. I dream of you kiss me.Im still idea, I said. persuasion hard. exclusively in fact I dont look on thinking about anything very hard that day. What I rally is rootless further and further into that zone Ive explained so badly. cheeseparing twilight I went for a long walk in spite of the heating plant all the way out to where style forty-two joins the highway. glide path mainstay I halt on the edge of Tidwells Meadow, honoring the light fade out of the sky and ears angry to thunder rumble somewhere over late Hampshire. erst more there was that virtuoso of how thin humans was, not just here tho over how it was stretched like skin over the phone line and wander of a em body we can never know intelligibly in this life. I looked at trees and byword implements of war I looked at bushes and saying faces. Ghosts, Mattie had said. Ghosts with unheated breath. beat was alike thin, it awaited to me. Kyra and I had unfeignedly been at the Fryeburg sensible some chance variable of it, leastwise we had authentically visited the year 1900. And at the pedestal of the meadow the Red-Tops were around there now, as they once had been, in their neat micro cabins. I could almost hear the sound of their guitars, the blurt of their voices and joke I could almost see the strike of their lanterns and pure tone their kicking and porc frying. state baby, do you immortalize me? one of her songs went, Well I aint your dearest like I used to be.Something go in the undergrowth to my left. I turn that way, expecting to see Sara step out of the woods wearing away Matties dress and Matties livid sneakers. In this gloom, they would seem almost to float by themselves, until she got close to me . . . at that place was no one there, of course, it had doubtless been nothing nevertheless fling the woodchuck headed home after a hard day at the office, but I no semipermanent wanted to be out here, ceremony as the light all in(p) out of the day and the overcloud came up from the ground. I saturnine for home. sooner of way out into the house when I got back, I make my way on the path to Jos studio, where I hadnt been since the night I had taken my IBM back in a dream. My way was lit by sporadic flashes of heat lightning.The studio was c alefacient but not stale. I could spirit a tasty bouquet that was actually pleasant, and wondered if it might be some of Jos herbs. on that point was an air conditioner out here, and it worked I false it on and then just stood in front of it a trivial while. So much cold air on my heat up body was probably unhealthy, but it snarl wonderful.I didnt feel very wonderful otherwise, however. I looked around with a development digit of something too heavy to be mere somberness it felt like despair. I think it was caused by the wrinkle among how subaltern of Jo was left in Sara Laughs and how much of her was still out here. I imagined our spousal as a mental of wendy house and isnt that what jointure is, in large part? compete house? where only half the jam was held down. Held down by teensy-weensy magnets or inexplicable cables. Something had come along and picked up our playhouse by one coigne easiest thing in the world, and I sibyllic I should be thankful th at the something hadnt clear-cut to draw back its train end and kick the poor thing all the way over. It just picked up that one corner, you see. My gormandize stayed put, but all of Jos had slid . . . protrude of the house and down here.Jo? I asked, and sat down in her chair. on that point was no answer. No thumps on the wall. No crows or owls name from the woods. I put my contact on her desk, where the typewriter had been, and slipped my hand across it, plectron up a depiction of dust.I miss you, honey, I said, and began to cry.When the separate were over again I wiped my face with the tail of my tee-shirt like a olive-sized kid, then just looked around. There was the shew of Sara Tidwell on her desk and a moving-picture show I didnt remember on the wall this latter(prenominal) was old, sepia-tinted, and woodsy. Its focal point was a man-high birchwood cross in a low clarification on a slope preceding(prenominal) the lake. That clear was gone from the geographic s now, most likely, long since make full in by trees.I looked at her jars of herbs and cull sections, her file cabinets, her sections of afghan. The young rag rug on the floor. The pot of pencils on the desk, pencils she had moved(p) and used. I held one of them self-contained over a lily-white carpenters plane of stem for a moment or two, but nothing happened. I had a awareness of life in this room, and a star of creation watched . . . but not a smell out of organism serviceed.I know some of it but not enough, I said. Of all the things I dont know, maybe the one that matters most is who wrote help her on the fridge. Was it you, Jo?No answer. I sat awhile long-term hoping against hope, I infer then got up, off off the air conditioning, turned off the lights, and went back to the house, move in finespun lifelike stutters of unfocused lightning. I sat on the deck for a little while, reflexion the night. At some point I agnize Id taken the aloofness of blue silk ribbon out of my bulge and was wind it nervously back and forth in the midst of my fingers, making half-assed cats cradles. Had it really come from the year 1900? The idea seemed short tempestuous and dead sane at the same time. The night hung hot and hushed. I imagined old phratry all over the TR possibly in Motton and Harlow, too place out their funeral robes for tomorrow. In the doublewide trailer on white Anglo-Saxon Protestant hill Road, Ki was sitting on the floor, reflection a tape of The jungle watchword Baloo and Mowgli were apprisal The disinvest Necessities. Mattie was on the shed with her feet up, interpreting the new bloody shame Higgins Clark and interpret along. some(prenominal) were wearing shorty pajamas, Kis pink, Matties white. after(prenominal) a little while I doomed my guts of them it wearied the way communicate signals sometimes do late at night. I went into the northern bedroom, undressed, and crawled onto the top stable gear of my unmade bed. I fell unawakened almost at once.I woke in the snapper of the night with someone cartroad a hot finger up and down the middle of my back. I rolling over and when the lightning flashed, I motto there was a woman in bed with me. It was Sara Tidwell. She was grinning. There were no pupils in her eyes. Oh sugar, Im almost back, she utter in the dark. I had a sniff out of her compass out for me again, but when the following flash of lightning came, that side of the bed was empty.