@@@@@But Nan Melda began to suspect, and I
@@@@@But Nan Melda began to suspect, and
I flipped back and looked at the little girl with
the finger on her lips
She's listening, so shhhhIf you talk, she'll
hear, so shhhhBad things can happen, and worse
things are waitingTerrible things in the Gulf,
waiting to drown you and take you to a ship where
you'll live something that's not lifeAnd if I
999
try to tell? Then the bad things may happen to all
of us, and all at once
Wireman was perfectly still beside meOnly his
eyes moved, sometimes looking at Noveen, sometimes
looking at the pallid arm that flickered in and
out of view on the right side of my body
"But there was a safe place, wasn't there?" I
asked"A place where she could talkWhere?"
"You know," Noveen said
"No, I-"
"Yessir, you doYou only forgot
awhileDrawing was how I'd reinvented
myselfIn that way, Libbit
(where our sister)
was my kinFor both of us, drawing was how we
remembered how to remember
I flipped to a clean sheet"Do I have to use one
of her pencils?" I asked
So I rummaged in my pack, found my Indigo, and
began drawingI drew the Eastlake swimming pool
with no hesitation - it was like giving up thought
1000
and allowing muscle memory to punch in a phone
numberI drew it as it had been when it had been
bright and new and full of clean waterThe pool,
where for some reason Perse's hold slipped and her
hearing failed
I drew Nan Melda, up to her shins, and Libbit up
to her waist, with Noveen tucked under her arm and
her pinafore floating around herWords floated
out of my stroke