Warp Read Free

and out of sight, the bag of clubs bumping vigorously against his hip.
    Hollis straightened up again.
    â€œWho was that?”
    â€œMy landlord,” said Hollis. “Looks like he’s taking a little driving practice. I told him I was going to Aruba for six weeks—if he saw me here there’d be some fireworks, let me tell you.”
    He kicked at the grass. The pale orange sunlight seemed not to carry any heat, and a cold wind was starting to come up. An empty plastic shopping bag tumbled by, weightless, ten feet over their heads.
    â€œOh. I saw Eileen Cavanaugh a couple of days ago.” Brian hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his sweatpants. “On the street. I didn’t talk to her—I was in a car. She looked different, though. Her hair’s all wavy now.”
    â€œThey always get prettier after we break up,” Hollis said. “I hear she has a real-live adult job now—she works at an investment firm downtown, one of those big-time, old-money ones.”
    â€œOh, yeah?” Brian tossed back his blond hair. “Which one?”
    In the distance they could hear the high-pitched warning beep of a big truck backing up.
    â€œI don’t remember the name.”
    The air smelled like wet grass. Hollis turned all the way around, slowly, his hands in the pockets of his overcoat, just looking out at the view. By now the road on the other side was completely in the shadow of the little hill they were standing on.
    He turned back around to face the sunset again. Looking down at the rolling, sea-green expanse of the park, he was overcome by a rush of memory—something he’d been assigned to read when he was in elementary school. It was a story.
    It was about the ocean.
    Malo lived with his family in a little village by the sea. When Malo was a little boy, his father made a rule:
    â€œNever, never fish alone at night,” he said. “Bring your brother with you. Or better still, do not go at all.”
    But the summer Malo turned eleven years old the fishing was very bad, and his family had nothing to eat. His mother fell sick. At last he could wait no longer. One night Malo stayed awake until his parents were asleep, then he slipped out the window and down to the docks where the fishing boats were kept.
    Hollis blinked his eyes against the cold, dry wind.
    â€œSo what was she doing?” he said.
    â€œWho? Eileen? Just standing there, I guess. On the sidewalk. Looked like she was having some kind of a sneezing fit.”
    â€œShe’s allergic to practically everything.”
    â€œWhat about this place where she works?” Brian said. “It’s in Boston?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œYou don’t know where?”
    Hollis gestured vaguely.
    â€œIt’s downtown somewhere. Where all those places are. The financial district, I guess. Jesus, it’s not like I memorized the address.”
    Munson, Hanson, Gund, Inc.
    75 State Street, Suite 2176
    Boston, MA 02154
    Member FDIC
    â€œSo you guys don’t hang out anymore?” said Brian.
    â€œNot really.” Hollis sniffed.
    â€œMaybe I’ll give her a call.”
    â€œLook, go right ahead. It’s a free Commonwealth.”
    â€œSay no more—I hear you.” Brian held up his hands defensively. “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”
    He bent over and started stretching his calves. A seagull landed a few yards away, hunting for trash in the tall grass. Down below in the park the woman and the ferret orbited around each other at opposite ends of the leash. The couple had stopped playing catch. They were sitting together on a dugout bench next to the chain-link backstop, drinking cans of soda.
    â€œJesus, how can they stand that stuff?”
    â€œI didn’t even know they had Diet Mountain Dew,” said Hollis.
    An hour went by, and Malo still hadn’t caught anything. He paddled farther out towards the mouth of the bay, where the water was deepest.