A Dredging in Swann by Tim Garvin

Author:Tim Garvin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2019-12-12T17:35:14+00:00

The Laws of the

Universe

Cody was seated on a storage box, flipping the putty knife, practicing doubles. Charlene had brought homemade pizza out to the garage, and they had finished it and opened their second beers. The boat was scraped and ready. He had run mineral spirits through the automatic sprayer, and it was ready too. He would start spraying in the morning, after the dew dried. Charlene had gotten the conversation around to Keisha, where, he admitted, he might be seriously intentioned.

“Are you hooking up?”

He said, “That’s nosy.”

“I know. Are you?”

“Yeah. A little.”

“A little? How does that work?”

“Twice.”

“You got some years on her.”

“Who cares?”

“I’m not saying anything. It’s just her mother’s in the picture.”

“Her mother likes me.”

“You like Keisha?”

“So far.”

“A lot?”

“So far. She a hypodermic.”

“Oh, Jesus …”

“I mean she has that effect.”

“She gets you high?”

He tried a triple and caught it neatly. He said, “That’s right. She puts a needle right into my vein.”

They smiled together, both used to and indifferent to his offhand baiting. He said, “If things work out, we might get married.”

“Have you talked about it?”

“No, but it’s like an open secret when we look at each other.”

“She is black.”

“I noticed that.”

“So there’s the kid question.”

“Fuck the kid question. And fuck anyone who asks it.”

“The world does ask it.”

“Then fuck the world.”

“Sounds like you’re feeling ready.”

He could reply, but he felt self-pity tears trying to start. He steered. He said, “What’s up with your Mike guy? Are you hooking up?”

“A little.” She smiled but let sadness through. “I’ve been waiting on a call. Tap tap tap.”

He caught the knife and held it, pointed it at her. He said, “You’re a deep well, and he needs to have a deep thirst. If he don’t, fuck him and the horse he rode in on.”

She was sitting on the overturned boat and now rose and kissed the top of his thinning scalp. She said, “You gorgeous younger brother.” She collected dishes and went back into the house.

If he could vanish, would be one solution, but vanish with no memories. Teleport to a new life where he could wake up, and it would be amnesia. What country is this? What food do we eat here? Elton Gleen would actually sell Stinger missiles to Arab terrorists. It was natural to him. It was not evil as much as ignorant. What if Elton saw five hundred terrified people falling toward earth? Could he look them in the eye as they fell, the kids too, and say, fine, where’s my ten million? Some guys could, but most probably not. Most guys would have at least a twinge of feeling. Maybe that was mostly what evil was, blanking things out.

Cody went back to the workbench to test the paint. The stir stick glided without obstruction, the paint well-stirred by his dependable sister. It was a deep rich lovely blue and ran like warm honey. He turned the stick, watching the blue fluid fold and flop into the blue pool, the laws of the universe faithfully functioning despite his troubles.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.