Fierce Little Thing by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Author:Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

77

Teresa’s hair is gray from afar, but looking into the curtain of it as she squeezes me, it’s a hundred different colors—cloud and silver and stone and slate. She smells as though she hasn’t bathed in centuries. The screen door flaps shut. I look for Tomas when I come up for air, but I can’t tell if it’s him there in the meshed pane, or a shadow.

78

We had grown used to the slosh of the lake, and to the perpetual midnight moans of the loons, but the rev of a motor, followed by the slamming of a car door, and then of a howl let into the cool August night, had Dog on his feet barking bloody murder.

We pulled on our sweatshirts. We raced up the hill, Dog speeding off, Philip calling to us to wait, but we weren’t going to miss the excitement.

We were past the chicken coop when we heard the second howl. High and raw, it carried a loneliness I’d only ever felt deep inside my self. Then I was running again. I stumbled over a rock. Xavier reached back and took my hand. We found our way to the driveway.

Headlights interrogated the Main Lodge. This wasn’t just any car; it belonged to the police. Jim was caught in the beams. I understood, as he swayed, that he had been the one to make that unfettered sound. I understood that he had made a problem in the Thinged World.

Abraham shook the hand of a man in uniform, who was compact and handsome, with a white, trimmed mustache and shoes so polished that they shone in the headlights. A metal star glimmered on his chest. The sheriff. I shrunk back even though I felt foolish. But it wasn’t foolish to be afraid; Sal the sheriff really could take me. Meanwhile, Homesteaders fumbled up the hill while the eyes of the law wandered the Unthinged World.

“Didn’t mean to wake you all.” Sal tipped his hat to Sarah in her white cotton nightgown. She folded her arms over her chest as though she knew him.

“Don’t get much traffic up here,” Abraham said.

Butterfly came out of Abraham’s cabin. She was dressed in his linen tunic, a sheet wrapped around her legs, golden hair spread over her shoulders. At the sight of her, Philip turned and descended the hill, back into the darkness.

“Whore,” Jim muttered.

Abraham moved to stand between Jim and Butterfly. Ephraim stepped forward, and Amos, too, hands at the ready as though Jim was about to turn into a werewolf.

“Same as I told you,” Jim said to the sheriff, the words slurring together, “this place is filled to the brim with liars and whores.”

“Best,” the sheriff said to Abraham, “to get this man to bed.”

“Jim.” Teresa had arrived. She deposited the sleepy bundle of Tomas into Sarah’s arms. “Come on now, Jim. Come on.” She pulled at his arm. He shook himself free. Tomas started to wail.

Butterfly said, “Your wife is here.” It sounded like a curse. Jim stepped toward her but she went back into Abraham’s cabin and shut the door.

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.