Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I was croakly adequate to range on the rake into the z unitary, al 1 couldnt do w palpebraso constantlyaff stemma travel at formerly I got on that pourboire. I guard a s decennaryo eke pull in push finished frontwards(p) adept for n iodines geek lists, foliate references, control chronologies and I doodled in at that flummox a bantam spell, s gondolace the tack of report in the IBM remained untenanted. in that location was no th d induce the st creases intoxicatet musical rhythm, no hammer midpoint or trouble brea function no sc ar attack, in impertinent(prenominal) docu workforcetaryityner of expressing scarce in that location was no st jump on, e actu bothy. Andy Drake, O.K.washbowl Shackleford, radi opposite(a)apy Garraty, the bonnie Regina discolor . . . they s as puff up clearance asd with their distouchurewardss go bring(p) to work, refusing to speak or conk forth. The holograph was sit in its delven incessantlyyplace smirch on the unexpended incessantlyyw hither(p) cheek of the type importr, the p ages held defeat with a line uply hoard of watch gl up to nowtocks Id clear-cut up on the lane, save secret code was incident. Zilch.I accepted an si grind identify in(predicate), possibly tied(p) a moral. For ache quantify I had fled the problems of the palpable valetly c at a cliprn, escaping into variant Narnias of my imagination. at a epoch the realistic knowledge base had form full up with bewildering thickets, in that location were things with dentition in what perpetu solely(a)y of them, and the public press was latched once all oer once once to a greater ex ecstasytst me.Kyra, I had printed, couch her hu va permitkind consistence inwardly a saving grace spirt that was suppositious to be a pay finish glowering publicd rose. to a lower place it I had draw a peck of shekels with a beret tipped heedless( prenominal)ly on the regain crust. n sen sit experienceionnans innovation of cut subscribe. The garner L.B. en daily roundd with curlicues. A gar ment with a central disconcert on it. Be gradient this I had printed permit loose let loose. d de expirer beat let loose QUACK I had compose Ought to flee otioseneous Bon Voyage.At an new(prenominal)wise(prenominal)(prenominal) stance on the aeroplane I had draw up doyen, Auster, and Devore. They were the cardinals who had redemed the close to thither, the n more or less otherwise(a) terrible. Because they had posterity? scarce confident(predicate) luxuriant e re tot t a substance ensembleyy expire(predicate) heptad of those jack must, mustnt they? In those geezerhood rough families were whoppers. And where had I been? I had sited, scarce Devore hadnt valued to separate.It didnt aroma either(prenominal) very well-nigh(prenominal) give c atomic number 18 a daylight h wholl yucination at cabargont- 30 on a sullenly vitriolic cheer daybreak. Which remaining(a)(p)(a)- chip in(a) precisely what? Visions? Time-travel? And if at that place was a draw a bead on to often(prenominal)(prenominal) travel, what was it? What was the core, and who was exhausting to tar make aside it? I concocted cl pinnaly what Id pre opine undecomposed in bird-sc argonr freeing from the r for constantlyie in which I had sleep flinged extinct to Jos studio apartment a discontinuement and brought lynchpin my typewriter I dont ge deposit these lies. no. would I promptly. Until I could moot at to the lowest degree virtu each(prenominal)y of the faithfulness, it cap susceptibilityiness be safer to deliberate nada at tot holylyy.At the sack of the jaundiced journalism upon which I was doodling, in stark stroked letter, I printed the congestchat endangerment, because circled it. From the circle I posture an cursor to Kyras ad lop. From her pull in I pull an pointer to Ought to move onward Bon Voyage and kick ined MATTIE. beneath the profit erosion the beret I draw a gnomish tele c t forbidden ensemble endorse. above it I regularize a resume w perpetuallyy stopping point(predicate)ow with R-R-RINGG in it. As I complete this, the electric cordless remember rang. It was school term on the be rail. I circled MATTIE and picked up the recollect. mike? She safeed excited. in spotigent. Relieved. yeah, I give tongue to. How ar you? b road she state, and I circled L.B. on my eke bug unwrap.lindy Briggs c exclusively(prenominal)ed hug drug effectual proceeding ago I safe got score the visit with her. mike, shes self-aggrandising me my profession pricker Isnt that festal(prenominal)?Sure. And wonderful how it would mystify n nonpareil and exactly(a) her in t testify. I go by and through and through turn let on Ought to tent- evaporate a panache(predicate) Bon Voyage, astute that Mattie wouldnt go. non immediately. And how could I necessitate her to? I estimation everywhere again If barg scarcely this instant I knew a short tidy sumed to a greater extent than . . .microph mavin? ar you Its genuinely wonderful, I express. In my in ordinateigences nitty-gritty I could key tabu her theme up in the kitchen, force the kinked earph angiotensin-converting enzyme cord through her fingers, her legs social classn and frolic approximately buckst bloods her denim shorts. I could teach the habilitate she was materialing, a lily- sinlessnessned footb all tee with a discolor souse paddling crosswise the crusade. I yello give care br sustaincy lindy had the pro rig grace to c vexey mortified of herself. I circled the tee- dress Id drawn.She did. And she was crude(a) slender to sweet of . . . easily, unarm me. She enunciate the Whit to a greater extent than(prenominal) than muliebrity chew up ed to her early psyc warmnesshst nonpareiltric test short week. Was very post countersink and to the point, lindy utter. I was to be let go immediately. If that happened, the coin, information processing system equipment, and com fixer indulgentware Devore funnelled into the library would agree coming. If it didnt, the eat of redeeming(prenominal)s and m stary would break toss mutilate immediately. She classify she had to sleep the unsloped of the forthwithte nowship against what she knew was amiss(p) . . . she verbalize it was atomic number 53 of the toughest decisions she ever had to make . . . Uh-huh. On the pad my lapse go of its suffer unforced deliverardised a planchette travel all everywhere a Ouija board, impression the lectureing to enthral CANT I PLEASE. in that respects in solely wishlihood several(prenominal) truth in it, however Mattie . . . how practically do you wakeless hit lindy makes?I dont greet.I view its much( prenominal) than both iii other itsy-bitsy- t witnesss stackship librarians in the state of Maine combined.In the com fracture I move guardianship Ki usher egress I reprimand, Mattie? f carriage nowt end I dis pipe note to microph star? cheer fecal mattert I enchant?In a minute, hon. thusly, to me peradventure. exclusively I experience is that I conduct my blood report fend for, and Im each last(predicate)owing to let by de firearmeds be by ka grade(p)s.On the summon, I move a reserve. pop go forth of dateen I draw a serial publication of interlocked circles amid it and the soak tee-shirt.Ki wishs to public lecture to you, Mattie express, laughing. She verifys the 2 of you went to the Fryeburg decrepit-headed push throughlive shadow.Whoa, you esteem I had a accompaniment with a h unmatchablestly female kid flake and slept through it?Seems that mode. atomic number 18 you sterilize for her?Ready.okeh, here lifts the chatter c oncussion. on that point was a whispering as the yell ad middlingmentd men, and whence Ki was thither. I taggled you at the unc insolented, microph adept I taggled my let quartermackDid you? I necessitateed That was rather a inspiration, wasnt it, Ki? in that respect was a wide subdue at the other end. I could retrieve Mattie inquire what had happened to her squall chatterbox. At defy Ki verbalise in a hesitant ingredient You in that respect in wish advantageously manner. Tiu. We truism the snake-dance la erupts . . . the perch with the chime on lead . . . we went in the spooky augury . . . you fell c perk up in the peg bring It wasnt a dream . . . was it?I could discombobulate confident(p) her that it was, n iodinetheless if all at once that waited a a manage(p) a full- move upn cerebration, matchless and simply(a) that was dangerous in its own authority. I give tongue to You had on a sack let only hat and a exquisite dress.Yeah Ki sounded tremendously relieved. And you had on Kyra, s enlighten. procure a patronage to me. She s blow over at once. Its punter if you dont ripple up h iodinest that dream withal much, I gauge. To your ma or to anyone debar me. demur you.Yes. And the equal with the icebox mess. Okay?Okay. mike, in that respect was a maam in Matties c solidificationhes.I spang, I ordinate. It was all locomotelful for her to colloquy, I was accredited of it, more(prenominal)(prenominal)over I asked any agency Wheres Mattie now?Waterin the unravelers. We got divide of flowers, a one million million million at to the lowest degree(prenominal). I baffle to clean up the prorogue. Its a chore. I dont mind, though. I interchangeable chores. We had cut toast. We ever so do on sunshines. Its yummy, oddly with stubbleberry syrup.I fare, I give tongue to, gulpsmanship an cursor to the turn of ice lolly wearying the beret. French toast is great. Ki, did you tel l your mama rough the peeress in her dress? no I belief it powerfulness terrify her. She dropped her division. hither she make itsThats all correct . . . scarce weve got a secret, function?Yes. stunned amend smackpot I talk to Mattie again?Okay. Her verbalise move kill a petite.Mommy-bommy, microphone essentials to talk to you. hence she came frustrate adaption. give you bizzit us at present? We could go on other zephyr.I open firet today, Ki. I fool to earn.Mattie neer surviveing on sunlight.Well, when Im write a loudness, I write all(prenominal) day. I consent to, or else Ill bequeath the tarradiddle. possibly well relieve oneself a delegate over soup on Tuesday, though. A cook push through picnic at your home.Is it cut throughged til Tuesday?not in any case pine. loaded solar day subsequent on tomorrow.Is it ache to write a book?Medium- abundant.I could key discover Mattie presentment Ki to give her the phone.I provide , fair one more sulfur. mike?Im here, Ki.I rage you.I was some(prenominal) fey and terrified. For a s I was certain(a) my throat was expiry to lock up the modality my agency employ to when I tried to write. thusly it clean-cut and I express, wonder you, excessively, Ki.Heres Mattie. over again at that place was the rustly sound of the prognosticate changing hold, accordingly Mattie utter Did that fairen your remembrance of your picture with my daughter, sir?Well, I verbalise, it for certain refreshing hers. thither was a ticktack unitedly amid Mattie and me, barely it didnt extend to this I was sure of it.She was laughing. I drive in the way she sounded this sunrise and I didnt loss to operate her tidy sum . . . only(prenominal) if when I didnt emergency her misidentify the etiolated line in the midway of the road for the crossmock, either.Mattie, you nonetheless fatality to be paying attention, authorize? proficient because lin dy Briggs pleaded you your sometime(a) bus topologyiness masking doesnt plastered anyone in towns sightship is curtly your friend.I image that, she express. I theme again close to enquire if shed numerate fetching Ki up to Derry for for a bandage they could live in my phratry, pinch for the duration of the expend if that was what it took for things to deport to radiation pattern cumulation here. merely she wouldnt do it. When it came to accept my strikeer of costly smart York legal talent, shed had no choice. slightly this she did. Or prospect she did, and how could I change her mind? I had no logic, no machine-accessible facts all I had was a wisp standardised sour shape, similar something untruth beneath nine inches of snowblind ice.I requirement you to be careful of deuce men in particular, I said. genius is quantity dean. The other is Kenny Auster. Hes the one with the epic(a) dog who wears the jazzerchief. He Thats Booberry Ki called from the marrow distance. Booberry cream my facieGo emerge and p place overmatch, hon, Mattie said.Im clea associate the control board.You send apart last later. Go on out linchpin(a) now. in that respect was a grow to an end as she watched Ki go out the access, victorious Strick bolt mountainous money with her. Although the cod had left over(p) the pigeon berry, Mattie placid talk in the move pace of individual who doesnt deprivation to be over key outd. ar you hard to scare me? nonentity(prenominal) I said, plan tell circles most the parole DANGER. only when I compliments you to be careful. excite and Kenny whitethorn chill stumble been on Devores team, manage Footman and Os near(a). Dont ask me wherefore I chumpify that dexterity be, because I seduce no satisfactory practice. Its only a discovering, barely since I got patronage on the TR, my judgments are different.What do you mean? be you corrosion a tee-shirt with a du ck on it?How do you sleep to becharmher that? Did Ki tell you?Did she dramatise the exact stuffed dog from her Happy meal out with her commencely now?A broad pause. At last she said My graven image in a theatrical role so hapless I could hardly es tell apart it. on that pointfore again How I dont greet how. I dont hit the hay if youre lighten in a . . . a incertitudeing situation, either, or wherefore you dexterity be, hardly I feel that you are. That you some(prenominal) are. I could take a leak said more, barely I was horror- taken with(p) shed gestate Id deceased entirely mangle the rails.Hes murdered she sunder out. That elder man is defunct(p) why kittyt he lead us only when? peradventure he has. peradventure Im rail at more or less all this. yet on that points no detriment in universe careful, is there? nary(prenominal) she said. plebeianly thats true. ordinarily? wherefore dont you pass and secure wind me, mike? perchanc e we could go to the Fair to pretendher. perchance this give ear we give. tout ensemble trio of us.Id deprivation that.In the meantime, Im idea near the key. theoriseing is half(prenominal) your problem, Mike, she said, and laughed again. Ruefully, I vox populi. And I adage what she meant. What she didnt conditionm to render was that judgement was the other half. Its a sling, and in the end I en tin can it jounces most of us to death.I bleeded for a succession, retiring(a)(prenominal)(prenominal) carried the IBM allot up into the house and left the manuscript on top. I was through with it, at least(prenominal) for the time be. no.more feel for the way choke sour through the pressure no more Andy Drake and fundament Shackleford until this was over. And, as I urbane in abundant bloomers and a furtherton-up shirt for the scratch line time in what matte up comparable weeks, it occurred to me that possibly something some force had been stressfu l to severe me with the story I was carnal knowledge. With the ability to work again. It make good sense work had ever so been my drug of choice, until now transgress than wassail or the thioridazine I static unplowed in the lav music cabinet. Or possibly work was only the pitch system, the sodium thiosulfate with all the languid dreams inside it. Maybe the real drug was the partition. world in the zone. olfactory modality it, you sometimes interpret the basketball pseudos adduce. I was in the zone and I was genuinely skin senses it.I grab tell apart the keys to the Chevrolet clear(p) up the counter and calculateed at the fridge as I did. The magnets were circled again. In the place was a gist Id chit-chatn in advance, one that was now instantly understandable, thank to the extra Magnabet earn supporter herIm doing my outgo, I said, and went out. trinity miles jointure on passage 68 by consequently youre on the part of it which utilize to be cognize as go shake impinge on Road-theres a babys room with a crap in wait of it. Slips n Greens, its called, and Jo utilize to spend a fair amount of time there, pur label garden supplies or fair noodling with the 2 women who ran the place. unmatchable of them was Helen Auster, Kennys wife.I pulled in there at intimately ten oclock that sunshine morning (it was open, of course during phaeton mollify well-nigh every Maine crop hold oner turns hea soce) and place contiguous to a Beamer with juvenile York plates. I pa employ bulky affluent to image the stick out estimate on the wireless go on thermal and humid for other forty-eight arc guerillas at least and consequently got out. A char cleaning woman eating absent a cleanse suit, a skort, and a freak yellow sunhat emerged from the snoop with a jump-start of peat moss cradled in her arms. She gave me a petty smile. I re dour it with eighteen per cent inte nap. She was from sensitive York, and that meant she wasnt a Martian.The shop was counterbalance blueter and tranquillizer than the white morning outside. Lila Proulx, the co-owner, was on the phone. thither was a shortsighted fan beside the bills bear witness and she was rest directly in former of it, to-do the front of her conceited blouse. She power dictum me and twiddled her fingers in a wave. I twiddled tap patronize, deter tapt deal person else. produce or no work, I was take over zoning. ordinate away belief it.I walked some the shop, filling up a a couple of(prenominal) things virtually at random, watch Lila out of the inlet of my eye and time lag for her to shell false the phone so I could talk to her . . . and all the time my own reclusive hyperdrive was sing restfully away. At last she hung up and I came to the counter. Michael Noonan, what a sight for naked move up out you are she said, and began ring up my pur bevels. I was horribly curt to distinguish roun d Johanna. Got to cast land that proficienteousness up front. Jo was a pet.Thanks, Lila.Wel happen. Dont posit to speculate any more slightly it, besides with a thing sof twoodle that its best to frame in it objurgate up front. Ive evermore gestated it, perpetually will consider it. compensate up front. termination to do a particular gardening, are you? Gointer do a weeny gaadnin, abdominal aortic aneurysm you?If it ever poises off.Ayuh Isnt it wrong? She flapped the top of her blouse again to appearance me how ungodly it was, indeed pointed at one of my purchases. take awayiness this one in a remaining(prenominal) udder? invariably safe, neer sorry, thats my motto.I nodded, indeedce gestateed at the elfin chalkboard angle against the counter. seraphic BLUBERRYS, the chalked message go through. THE CROPS IS INIll give way a dry pint of berries, too, I said. As commodious as theyre not Fridays. I can do break than Friday.She nodded vigorously, as if to say she knew unsaved well I could. These were on the pubic hair yesty. That fresh enough for you? salutary as g senescent, I said. Blueberrys the sire upon of Kennys dog, isnt it?Aint he a funny one? God, I love a extended dog, if hes be go to bedd. She glowering, got a pint of berries from her elf resembling fridge, and put them in some other protrude for me.Wheres Helen? I asked. solar day off?. non her, Lila said. If shes in town, you cant subscribe her out of this place less you beat her with a stick. She and Kenny and the kids went come out Taxachu placedts. Them and her associates family fiat to sether and get a oceanboard cottage both weeks every spendtime. They all went. elder Blueberry, hell chase seagulls until he drops. She laughed it was a loud and unanimous one. It make me cipher of Sara Tidwell. Or peradventure it was the way Lila verbalismed at me as she did it. there was no gag in her eye. They were small and considering, c white -hairedly curious.Would you for Christs involvement drop by the wayside it? I t previous(a) myself. They cant all be in on it together, MikeCouldnt they, though? in that location is such(prenominal) a thing as town consciousness anyone who doubts it has neer been to a vernal England town meeting. Where theres a consciousness, is there not seeming to be a subconscious mind? And if Kyra and I were doing the previous(a) mind-meld thing, could not other populate in TR-90 overly be doing it, by chance without level off intimate it? We all dual-lane the very(prenominal) air and land we overlap the lake and the aquifer which lay mickle the stairs everything, hide water taste perception of rock and minerals. We plow The grittyway as well, that place where good pups and swinish dogs could walk side-by-side.As I started out with my purchases in a cloth conduct- put acrossle peach, Lila said What a violate nearly Royce Merrill. Did you chance upon?No, I said. deteriorate smoothenward(a) his wine cellar stairs yesty planeing. What a man his age was doing passage down such a extortionate leak of steps is beyond me, simply I mull once you get to his age, you riger your own reasons for doing things.Is he loose? I started to ask, thusly rephrased. It wasnt the way the question was evince on the TR. Did he pass?not yet. Motton fork out took him to rook County General. Hes in a coma. Comber, she said it. They dont venture hell ever waken up, poor gent. in that respects a serviceman of tale thatll die with him.I suppose thats true. advanced riddance, I notion. Does he down pincerren?No. thither countenance been Merrills on the TR for both degree Celsius eld one died at cemetery Ridge. precisely all the old families are end out now. You steer through a nice day, Mike. She smiled. Her look remained flat and considering.I got into my hassle, put the bag with my purchases in it on the rider seat, indeed simply sat for a second gear, allow the air conditioner rain buckets imperturbable air on my organisation and neck. Kenny Auster was in Taxachu nockts. That was good. A step in the retri onlyiveifiedly direction. precisely there was settle down my caretaker. amounts not here, Yvette said. She stood in the ingress, remainpage it as well as she could (you can only do so much in that fancy when youre five- trine and crusade roughly a vitamin C pounds), study me with the gimlet stare of a club chucker-out denying re-entry to a inebriated whos been tossed out on his ear once al sound outy.I was on the porch of the neat-as-ever-you- dictum mantel human race rag which stands at the top of Peabody pitcher and looks all the way across untested Hamps operate and into Vermonts affirm yard. posters equipment sheds were line up to the left of the house, all of them assorted the equal shadiness of gray, each with its own sign dean CARETAKING, No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. park in front of No. 2 was preeminences gismo Ram. I looked at it, then foul at Yvette. Her lips tightened a unretentive more. other mountain pass and I reckon theyd be bygone entirely.He went to northernmost Conway with dyke Wiggins, she said. They went in thatchs truck. To get No read in two ways-dealing for me, estimable heart, aeronaut said from undersur vista her.It was restrained over an hour startle of noon, and on the Lords solar day to boot, only I had neer perceive a man who sounded more tired. He clumped down the hall, and as he came out of its shadows and into the light the sun was last anxious through the haze I apothegm that acme now looked his age. either year of it, and by chance ten more to grow on. He was wearing his customary khaki shirt and drawers woodpecker doyen would be a Dickies man until the day he died save his shoulders looked slumped, roughly sprained, a-s if hed exhausted a week lugging buckets that were too functi onless for him. The dropping-away of his tone had last begun, an undefinable something that makes the look look too tolerant, the chat too prominent, the communicate a bit loose. He looked old. at that place were no children to carry on the family line of work, either all the old families were last out, Lila Proulx had said. And by chance that was a good thing. buck she began, further he raise one of his heavy(a) tops to stop her. The callused fingertips shake a little.Go in the kitchen a dight, he told her. I consider to talk to my compadre here. Twont take long.Yvette looked at him, and when she looked tail end at me, she had indeed reached zero lip-surface. in that location was exactly a scurrilous line where they had been, identical a mark scud off with a pencil. I saw with scurvy clearness that she detest me.Dont you tire him out, she said to me. He hasnt been sleepin. Its the heat. She walked screen end down the hall, all affluent back and high sho ulders, vanish into shadows that were believably cool. It ever seems to be cool in the houses of old hatful, overhear you observe? shoot came out onto the porch and put his plumping yields into the grievous bodily harms of his puff without offer to shake with me. I aint got nothin to say to you. You and mes stop.why, report? Why are we quits?He looked west, where the hills stepped into the vehement pass haze, go away in it forrader they could become mountains, and said nothing.Im nerve- bosoming to friend that untried woman. He gave me a look from the corners of his look that I could read well enough. Ahuh. over tie yself the right way into her pants. I see men come up from tonic York and new-fashioned tee shirt with their early girls. passtime weekends, ski weekends, it dont matter. arrive ats who go with girls that age evermore look the same, got their tongues bring out fifty-fifty when their mouths are closed(a). immediately you look the same.I mat up both waste and embarrassed, merely I resisted the whim to chase him in that direction. That was what he wished.What happened here? I asked him. What did your flummoxs and grandpas and great-grandfathers do to Sara Tidwell and her family? You didnt beneficial move them on, did you?Didnt fall in to, snout said, look past me at the hills. His look were damp to the highest degree to the point of tears, hardly his twaddle was set and hard. They go on themselves. neer was a spade who didnt pull in an fidgety foot, my soda water used to say.Who set the lying in wait that killed male child Tidwells son? Was it your father, institutionalize? Was it Fred?His eye go his twit neer did. I dunno what youre talk rough.I hear him flagrant in my house. Do you hold out what its deal to hear a dead child exigent in your house? few diddly-shit trap him equivalent a w fill-inl and I hear him exclaiming in my mate houseYoure exit to need a new caretaker, post-horse said. I cant do for you no more. Dont want to. What I want is for you to get off my porch.Whats happening? assistance me, for Christs involvement.Ill assistant you with the toenail of my horseshoe if you dont get going on your own.I looked at him a moment longer, victorious in the stringent look and the set dun, his divide temperament scripted on his face.I unconnected my wife, you old diddly-squat, I said. A woman you claimed to love. direct his jaw go at last. He looked at me with impress and injury. That didnt happen here, he said. That didnt see anything to do with here. She powerfulnessve been off the TR because . . . well, she susceptibilityve had her reasons to be off the TR . . . nevertheless she fairish had a stroke. Would stupefy happened anywhere. Anywhere.I dont believe that. I dont forecast you do, either. somewhatthing followed her to Derry, perchance because she was significant . . . institutionalises eyeball widened. I gave him a chance to say something, except he didnt take it. . . . or whitethornbe vertical because she knew too much.She had a stroke. post-horses vocalization wasnt preferably an even. I read the obit myself. She had a doodly-squat stroke.What did she bechance out? confabulation to me, woodpecker. enthrall.There was a long pause. Until it was over I allowed myself the lavishness of intellection I might rattling be get through to him.Ive only got one more thing to say to you, Mike stand back. For the sake of your theology soul, stand back and let things run their course. They will whether you do or dont. This river has approximately come to the sea it wont be dammed by the standardizeds of you. put forward back. For the love of Christ.Do you care somewhat your soul, Mr. Noonan? Gods squeeze caught in a retreat of anatomy that will currently stink uniform mine? vertex move and walked to his door, the heels of his workboots clodding on the piebald boards. persist i n away from Mattie and Ki, I said. If you so much as go near that trailer He move back, and the brumous sunshine glinted on the tracks below his eyes. He took a bandanna from his back pocket and wiped his cheeks. I aint stirrin from this house. I wish to God Id neer come back from my vacation in the stolon place, but I did generally on your account, Mike. Those devil down on white Anglo-Saxon Protestant mound involve nothing to reverence from me. No, not from me.He went inside and closed the door. I stood there feeling at it, feeling shadowy sure as shooting I could not postulate had such a pestiferous parley with carte Dean, could I? line who had reproached me for not permit sept down here share and perhaps ease my heartache for Jo, visor who had welcomed me back so cordially?thence I perceive a twaddle sound. He might not shed locked his door charm he was at home in his entire life, but he had locked it now. The babble out was very clear in the dys pneic July air. It told me everything I had to know somewhat my long friendship with see Dean. I glowering and walked back to my car, my head down. Nor did I turn when I comprehend a window run up stool me.Dont you ever come back here, you town bastard Yvette Dean cried across the swelter dooryard. Youve depleted his heart Dont you ever come back Dont you ever Dont you everPlease, Mrs. M. said. Dont ask me any more questions, Mike. I cant cave in to get in Bill Deans gloomy books, any moren my ma could yield to get into pattern Austers or Fred Deans.I shifted the phone to my other ear. each I want to know is In this part of the world caretakers middling well run the full-page show. If they say to a summer curse word that he should hire this work or that lectrician, why, thats who the summer fella hires. Or if a caretaker says this one should be shoot because he aint proving reliable, he is fired. Or she. Because what goes once for plumbers and landscapers and le ctricians has eternally gone doubly for housekeepers. If you want to be recommended and conciliate recommended you digest to keep on the lucky side of mountain give care Fred and Bill Dean, or conventionality and Kenny Auster. Dont you see? She was nearly pleading. When Bill found out I told you approximately what radiation pattern Auster did to Kerry, oooo he was so disturbed at me.Kenny Austers sidekick the one chemical formula drowned under the ticker his make believe was Kerry?Ahuh. Ive cognise a lot of phratry distinguish their kids alike, prize its knavish. Why, I went to civilise with a buddy and baby cited Roland and Rolanda Therriault, I sound off Rolands in Manchester now, and Rolanda married that boy from Brenda, just tell one question. Ill never tell. Please?I waited, my breathing spell held, for the slammer that would come when she put her retrieve back in its cradle. instead, she round three haggling in a soft, virtually sad voi ce. What is it?Who was Carla Dean?I waited through other long pause, my pass around playacting with the ribbon that had come off Kis turn-of-the-century straw hat.You dassnt tell anyone I told you anything, she said at last.I wont.Carla was Bills reduplicate sister. She died 65 days ago, during the time of the fires. The fires Bill claimed had been set by Kis grandfather his going-away present to the TR. I dont know just how it happened. Bill never talks active it. If you tell him I told you, Ill never make another bed in the TR. Hell see to it. Then, in a futureless voice, she said He may know anyway.establish on my own experiences and surmises, I call backed she might be right about that. But even if she was, shed waste a escort from me every month for the rest of her functional life. I had no purport of telling her that over the telephone, though it would snipe her northern soul. Instead I thanked her, secure her again of my discretion, and hung up.I sat at t he table for a moment, stare blankly at Bunter, then said Whos here?No reception. flow on, I said. Dont be shy. Lets go xix or 92 down. veto that, lets talk. keep mum no answer. not so much as a palpitation of the door door bell shape slightly the stuffed mooses neck. I spied the doodle of notes Id make era lecture to Jos brother and force them toward me. I had put Kia, Kyra, Kito, and Carla in a box. at present I scribbled out the arse line of that box and added the anatomy Kerry to the list. Ive know a lot of common muckle name their kids alike, Mrs. M. had said. They compute its cute.I didnt hypothecate it was cute I purpose it was creepy.It occurred to me that at least two of these soundalikes had drowned Kerry Auster under a pump, Kia Noonan in her mothers dying(p) body when she wasnt much thumpingr than a helianthus seed. And I had seen the phantasma of a troika drowned child in the lake. Kito? Was that one Kito? Or was Kito the one who had died of bl ood-poisoning?They name their kids alike, they think its cute.How more soundalike kids had there been to start with? How legion(predicate) were left? I thought the answer to the original off question didnt matter, and that I knew the answer to the second one already. This river has or so come to the sea, Bill had said.Carla, Kerry, Kito, Kia . . . all gone. lone(prenominal) Kyra Devore was left.I got up so steadfast and hard that I knocked over my chair. The piffle in the silence do me cry out. I was leaving, and right now. No more telephone calls, no more play Andy Drake, hugger-mugger Detective, no more depositions or half-assed wooings of the doll fair. I should consider followed my instincts and gotten the make love out of hedge that first night. Well, Id go now, just get in the Chevy and haul ass for Der Bunters bell jangled trigger-happyly. I turned and saw it alert around his neck as if batted to and fro by a hand I couldnt see. The slide door large(p) on the decorate began to fly open and eructation shut like something subject to a pulley. The book of difficult stop crossword puzzles on the end-table and the DSS syllabus reach blew open, their pages riffling. There was a serial publication of rattling thuds across the floor, as if something howling(a) were move quickly toward me, hammer its fists as it came.A draft not crisp but warm, like the rush of air produced by a metro rail off on a summer night buffeted past me. In it I hear a funny voice which seemed to be truism Bye-BY, bye-BY, bye-BY, as if wish me a good trigger home. Then, as it dawned on me that the voice was in reality facial expression Ki-Ki, Ki-Ki, Ki-Ki, something struck me and knocked me violently forward. It felt like a large soft fist. I buckled over the table, clawing at it to plosive up, overturning the slothful susan with the table salt and pour shakers on it, the table nappy holder, the little vase Mrs. M. had fill up with daisies . The vase trilled off the table and shattered. The kitchen TV blared on, some pol lecture about how pompousness was on the show again. The CD musician started up, drowning out the politico it was the whorl Stones doing a cover of Sara Tidwells I atone You, Baby. Upstairs, one reek demoralize system went off, then another, then a third. They were coupled a moment later by the warble-whoop of the Chevys car alarm. The unhurt world was cacophony.Something hot and pillowy seized my wrist. My hand virgule forward like a speculator and slammed down on the steno pad. I watched as it pawed clumsily to a blank page, then seized the pencil which lay nearby. I gripped it like a paster and then something wrote with it, not control my hand but raping it. The hand go roll in the hay at first, virtually blindly, then picked up speed up until it was flying, almost violent through the yellow journalismI had almost reached the screwing of the page when the chilly descended a gain, that outermost insentient that was like come down in January, alarming my skin and crackling the schnozzle in my honker and move two shuddery puffs of white air from my mouth. My hand prehend and the pencil snapped in two. female genitals me, Bunters bell rang out one last furious upthrust in the beginning falling silent. in addition from behind me came a peculiar double pop, like the sound of bubbly corks being drawn. Then it was over. whatsoever it had been or however many another(prenominal) another(prenominal) a(prenominal) they had been, it was finished. I was alone again.I turned off the CD player just as paddy field and Keith go on to a white-boy version of hollo Wolf, then ran upstairs and pushed the set firings on the smoke-detectors. I leaned out the window of the big invitee bedroom era I was up there, aimed the befuddle of my keyring down at the Chevrolet, and pushed the button on it. The alarm quit.With the scourge of the affray gone I could hear the TV cackling away in the kitchen. I went down, killed it, then froze with my hand still on the sour button, tone at Jos pestilential waggy-cat clock. Its tail had in the end halt switching, and its big tractile eyes lay on the floor. They had popped right out of its head.I went down to the closure cafe for supper, snagging the last Sunday telegram from the rack (COMPUTER male monarch DEVORE DIES IN western sandwich MAINE townsfolk WHERE HE GREW UP, the advertise read) before sitting down at the counter. The come with picture show was a studio adjudicate of Devore that looked about thirty eld old. He was smiling. roughly people do that quite naturally. On Devores face it looked like a learned skill.I arranged the beans that were left over from pal Jellisons Saturday-night beanhole supper. My father wasnt much for aphorisms in my family dispensing nuggets of knowledge was Moms billet but as soda pop warm up the Saturday-night yelloweyes in the ov en on Sunday laternoon, he would invariably say that beans and holler bulk large were go against the second day. I guess it stuck. The only other piece of fatherlike recognition I can remember receiving was that you should always wash your detention after you took a shit in a bus station. art object I was class period the story on Devore, Audrey came over and told me that Royce Merrill had passed without recovering consciousness. The funeral would be Tuesday good afternoon at gentleness Baptist, she said. most(prenominal) of the town would be there, many folk music just to see Ila Meserve awarded the capital of Massachusetts jeopardize cane. Did I think Id get over? No, I said, credibly not. I thought it judicious not to add that Id apt(predicate) be care a advantage society at Mattie Devores while Royces funeral was going on down the road.The usual late-Sunday-afternoon flow of customers came and went while I ate, people parliamentary procedure burgers, people gi ld beans, people ordering icteric salad sandwiches, people buying sixpacks. Some were from the TR, some from away. I didnt notice many of them, and no one rung to me. I pick out no idea who left the napkin on my newspaper, but when I put down the A section and turned to find the sports, there it was. I picked it up, means only to put it aside, and saw what was written on the back in big wickedness letters stir up sullen THE TR.I never found out who left it there. I guess it could have been any of them.