Moldavia dating“Actually,” I told my mom, “I thought I’d stay the night with Watts — with Dan — if that’s all right with you? And with Teresa, of course. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” I don’t have what you could call a sex life, and the risk is none, because I’ve taken the utmost care ever since I accidentally had Edda. It’s you who have no excuse. I know that there were fully reliable contraceptives on the market thirty years ago. You were a full-fledged adult, and you cheatedon a true Icelander with some southern oaf. I can’t stand that snob, Mom. She thinks she’s so great because she can blow that fucking flute of hers. Let me tell you, I was this close not to making this trip with you when you told me she was going to drive. She’s a pest. But I guess I can still apologize. ‘Ah get a life, Castler, it’s not that late. Plenty a time for sleeping when you’re dead. You’re not in the grave yet. Though we all heard ya were. I suppose it was kinda odd that there was no funeral. If you had of been dead, you’d of had a funeral. I only just thought a that now. I’d of went along. Signed me name in the buke an that.’ His words were cut off by a sharp crack of a rifle from the trees, instantly followed by a second shot. Conawago jerked backward and Jess seemed to sag against the wall as Duncan darted to protect Sarah. She pushed him aside and leapt to Conawago, whose shirt sprouted a bright bloom of crimson. The Nipmuc ignored her, instead bending to lift Jess. My mother realized this and looked my way. Her smile was immediate and she gave me a little wave. She inhaled through her nostrils and held that breath for three or four beats. ARRIVAL IN PARIS ‘For God’s sake, how can I go with you?’ She turned over my sister’s cup first. Jean and I were rationalists. We knew how silly we were being, how superstitious. Still, we also knew this might be the last time, so we studied our mother’s face as she inspected the patterns against the porcelain walls of the cup. As she read the lines and waves and peaks and dips of the coffee grounds, we read the crannies along her forehead and the cracks in her painted lips, the bluing, beautiful pouches beneath her eyes, flanking the bridge of her long, arched nose. “I’m sure you have,” I sighed. I grabbed her keys from the nearby rack and jingled them to let her know I was borrowing the car. “I’ll be back before you’re done with theboreg,” I said on the way out. “So this isn’t me breaking my promise.” ‘Deh,’ said Larney, ‘notdoh.’ Yeah, but isn’t that Yves? After answering one of the questions, Yves gets up and goes to the bathroom. I hope my underwear will amaze him, hanging there on a hook, mysteriously illuminated. PANTIES IN MOONLIGHT. That’s a fitting sight for interlopers. Should we go after them? After a confession from Jim Durant and a testimony from my uncle, Phil was not indicted. He was free to go. But until I did the math, I didn’t know where, exactly, he went. I looked at the date of the crime, November 1999, and realized that Phil’s visits to my house came after, not before, the events of the story. My mother and uncle had put me in harm’s way. When it came to the matter of Phil’s innocence, I did not agree with the law. Toward my family I felt a kind of retroactive indignation. “You didwhat?” I shouted at my mother. “You invited a man like Phil into your home when your children were roughly the same age as his victims?” “But you’re his mother.” ‘He says you know the very man. Submit a detailed proposal to me by Monday.’. |