@@@@@But once Perse was out - what had Noveen
@@@@@But
once Perse was out - what had Noveen said? -
sugar-candy was mos'ly doneLibbit Eastlake's
talent had turned in her hand like a knifeExcept
it was no longer really her handHer father
didn't knowMaria and Hannah were
away at the Braden SchoolThe twins couldn't
understandBut 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 aske