her head and laugh if she were able to catch her breath.
He can still do that to her. She wraps her arms around herself as though she were freezing. "Get up," she tells him.
Julian rises to his feet and fishes a cigarette out of his jacket pocket. He's surprised by how painful it is just to look at her. He tries to focus on the road behind them, but it's the road that leads to the Interstate, past those marshes that were once so filled with birds that whenever you went out walking with the most beautiful girl in town all you heard was the calling of terns and the saw grass rustling like rice paper.
"I think I saw a baby, maybe a year old, or a little older, over by the dumpster at about a quarter after five. Maybe it was five-thirty."
"You think you saw her?" Julian asks.
"I saw her," Janey says coldly. "Her and the boy."
"You saw the boy, too?" Julian says, real easy, so that Janey has no idea that a second child is news to him. Bad news, probably.
"Both of them." Janey nods.
"And the boy looked He leaves room for her to fill in the blanks.
"Eleven or twelve," Janey says. "Blue jeans, I think. Blond," she adds. "Kind of skinny."
Julian nods as if she's answered correctly. "Were they headed for the Interstate?" he asks her.
"I don't know. I blinked and they disappeared.
What are they? Missing children or something?"
Janey asks.
"Something like that," Julian says. He opens the back door of his car and lets Loretta out.
"But not exactly," Janey says flatly.
If he looked at her now, he'd remember that whenever she climbed up the drain pipe to her bedroom window, her skirt billowed out around her.
Sometimes there would be spider webs on her ankles and red dust on the soles of her feet.
"Well, that's it, isn't it?" Janey says. "Same old thing. Make certain you don't tell anyone too much, because then they might know how you feel."
Julian clips Loretta's leash on. His eyes are just as black as they ever were, revealing so little you'd think there was nothing inside.
"Did you see anything else?" Julian asks. "A car you didn't recognize? Maybe someone over there by the weeds?"
"No," Janey says. She realizes that she's tired; it's much too hot to be standing out here in the noon sun. He's come back twenty years too late, that's all there is to it. "The sky was black except for all the way east," Janey says. "Over by the ocean. You know how it is at five o'clock?"
Since he used to wait in his car with the headlights turned off until she was safely through her window, he knows exactly what it's like at that hour of the morning. There's a yellow ribbon of light and then suddenly, before you know it, the sky is wide open and blue.
"I know how it is," Julian says, because none of what happened was her fault.
Janey Bass almost smiles, then she turns and walks back to her shop.
Julian appreciates the fact that she doesn't say good-bye. She's honest, that's all. There's nothing left for them to say to each other. Still, he knows that she's watching through the window as he walks across the parking lot. He also knows that eventually she'll stop; she'll move away from the plate-glass window and she won't look back and he'll never get to tell her that she's wrong. She does look the same.
She's as beautiful as ever, but that never had anything to do with the reason he didn't come back to her.
Near the dumpster, the asphalt is so hot it's melting into black pools.
Loretta stands still, her tail wagging slightly. When she starts that rumbling sound low in her throat, Julian reaches down and lets her off the leash, and she takes off to circle the dumpster, faster and faster, until she stops, suddenly, and puts her face down to the ground.
There, along the melting asphalt, is a trail of sugar and crumbs.
They'll go as far as they have to, and if the weather permits, they'll be searching long after dark. After all this time, Julian is so methodical he can see a white moth on a white mound of sand. He can determine the
He can still do that to her. She wraps her arms around herself as though she were freezing. "Get up," she tells him.
Julian rises to his feet and fishes a cigarette out of his jacket pocket. He's surprised by how painful it is just to look at her. He tries to focus on the road behind them, but it's the road that leads to the Interstate, past those marshes that were once so filled with birds that whenever you went out walking with the most beautiful girl in town all you heard was the calling of terns and the saw grass rustling like rice paper.
"I think I saw a baby, maybe a year old, or a little older, over by the dumpster at about a quarter after five. Maybe it was five-thirty."
"You think you saw her?" Julian asks.
"I saw her," Janey says coldly. "Her and the boy."
"You saw the boy, too?" Julian says, real easy, so that Janey has no idea that a second child is news to him. Bad news, probably.
"Both of them." Janey nods.
"And the boy looked He leaves room for her to fill in the blanks.
"Eleven or twelve," Janey says. "Blue jeans, I think. Blond," she adds. "Kind of skinny."
Julian nods as if she's answered correctly. "Were they headed for the Interstate?" he asks her.
"I don't know. I blinked and they disappeared.
What are they? Missing children or something?"
Janey asks.
"Something like that," Julian says. He opens the back door of his car and lets Loretta out.
"But not exactly," Janey says flatly.
If he looked at her now, he'd remember that whenever she climbed up the drain pipe to her bedroom window, her skirt billowed out around her.
Sometimes there would be spider webs on her ankles and red dust on the soles of her feet.
"Well, that's it, isn't it?" Janey says. "Same old thing. Make certain you don't tell anyone too much, because then they might know how you feel."
Julian clips Loretta's leash on. His eyes are just as black as they ever were, revealing so little you'd think there was nothing inside.
"Did you see anything else?" Julian asks. "A car you didn't recognize? Maybe someone over there by the weeds?"
"No," Janey says. She realizes that she's tired; it's much too hot to be standing out here in the noon sun. He's come back twenty years too late, that's all there is to it. "The sky was black except for all the way east," Janey says. "Over by the ocean. You know how it is at five o'clock?"
Since he used to wait in his car with the headlights turned off until she was safely through her window, he knows exactly what it's like at that hour of the morning. There's a yellow ribbon of light and then suddenly, before you know it, the sky is wide open and blue.
"I know how it is," Julian says, because none of what happened was her fault.
Janey Bass almost smiles, then she turns and walks back to her shop.
Julian appreciates the fact that she doesn't say good-bye. She's honest, that's all. There's nothing left for them to say to each other. Still, he knows that she's watching through the window as he walks across the parking lot. He also knows that eventually she'll stop; she'll move away from the plate-glass window and she won't look back and he'll never get to tell her that she's wrong. She does look the same.
She's as beautiful as ever, but that never had anything to do with the reason he didn't come back to her.
Near the dumpster, the asphalt is so hot it's melting into black pools.
Loretta stands still, her tail wagging slightly. When she starts that rumbling sound low in her throat, Julian reaches down and lets her off the leash, and she takes off to circle the dumpster, faster and faster, until she stops, suddenly, and puts her face down to the ground.
There, along the melting asphalt, is a trail of sugar and crumbs.
They'll go as far as they have to, and if the weather permits, they'll be searching long after dark. After all this time, Julian is so methodical he can see a white moth on a white mound of sand. He can determine the
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