Thirteen Ways of Looking at Twilight—11
“Here’s the question, and at the moment it’s the only question,” I said.
“What?” my brother asked.
“Why did I come into this room?”
“Did you have a reason?”
“I must have.”
“To tell me something?”
“It couldn’t be that—I didn’t even know you were here. I think it was to get something.”
“What?”
“Well, if I knew that, I would just get it and go.”
“I was thinking about that guy.”
“What guy?”
“The one that had that thing.”
“Where?”
“On his car. We used to go down there to that place. God, what was it called?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You know, where that man lived. The one that sold stuff out of his truck.”
“What stuff?”
“Like sweet potatoes.”
“What kind?”
“Just regular sweet potatoes.”
“No, the car.”
“Oh. Like a Malibu or something.”
“What kind of thing?”
“You know—like a—thing—on the door. You remember that time we went down there? It must have been July or August—it was real hot.”
“What was his name?”
“It’s not coming to me. Not really where he lived—damn, what was his name?—but kind of down from there—where that church is. I guess it’s still there.”
“I don’t know.”
“It was white. It had these things outside. It was a creek out behind it we used to go to.”
“I remember a bunch of creeks.”
“It had a sandbar—we went swimming there.”
“Yeah, I kind of remember.”
“One time that guy went with us.”
“Who?”
“You know, that guy you hung around with for a while. He had some kind of problem.”
“I hung around with him?”
“Yeah, he was some guy you knew from somewhere. Crazy guy. He always had a pistol. And shot everything: turtles, trees, signs—”
“Yeah—there was this one guy—what was his name? Clement or Ace or something like that.”
“Maybe so. Whatever happened to him?”
“I’m not sure. Something. I think he got in some kind of trouble. Didn’t he end up going to prison?”
“Beats me. What’d he do?”
“I can’t remember. Something.”
“I’m guessing it had something to do with a pistol.”
“Probably.”
“You haven’t seen him since then?”
“God, no.”
“What do you think the chances are he’s dead?”
“High.”
“What do you think the chances are we will be?”
“High.”
“You remember that place where that woman had that thing on her porch?”
“That square thing?”
“More like a triangle. The one that worked in that place?”
“I remember a woman that never could remember—I can’t remember what she never could remember. Do you remember her?”
“How long ago?”
“Um—I don’t know. A long time. Back when all that stuff was going on.”
“Are you sure it was a Malibu?”
“I’m not sure. It was either that or something else. Are those your keys over there?”
“Where?”
“On that thing.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. So they are.”
“I bet that’s why you came in here.”
“Yeah, I was going to go to that place.”
“Where?”
“Over there where those green things are.”
“If you go by that place, bring me some of those frozen things I like.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t forget.”
“Don’t forget what?”
“To remember.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
July 1, 2022