Page 128 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

But you are still an asshole, Walt said, taking another drag. Be boring if you were any less.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. You know what it was for me?

I’m afraid to ask.

It was too early to know you yet, but that first night, when I woke up scared and you put me back to bed.

That was so long ago, Hollis.

Hollis laughed, wet.

Yeah. We weren’t there yet, and I was still angry. But I knew and it was the only thing that let me sleep.

I knew you were once scared of this too, and then I couldn’t be afraid of you.

Shimmer

Yulia looked at him hard, hands framing his face.

“I don’t want to forget what your eyes looked like, when you were like this. If anything happens.”

“You could take a picture.” Walt grinned.

“It’s not the same.”

They took her binder of instructions and bag of ingredients.

“Thank you for this, Yulia. You’re a real pal.”

Hollis kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, Yulia,” he echoed.

Yulia opened her front door for them.

“My dad helped out a little. He wasn’t exactly . . . happy, but he loves you, Hollis. He did say something about how you shouldn’t be in the room when it happens, for safety or something,” she said. “Not that we know enough about this to be giving out advice. . . . My dad’s smart, but we’re all just making conjectures.

“Anyway, I hope you don’t immediately get sucked into hell, Walt. You’re a really good dancer.”

Walt threw their head back and laughed, full and throaty.

“I’ll try my best, ma’am.”

Yulia scrunched her nose.

“If everything goes all right, you should come to Annie’s after. We might be asleep, but you’re welcome to pile in. Tomorrow morning, my dad wants to talk to you; he’s taking us to brunch in the city.”

“We in trouble?” Hollis asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Depends on your definition of it.” Yulia smiled, fond. “Get off my porch, Hollis Brown. And good luck.”

Rose Town

Hollis tried to force himself not to imagine Walt living in this house, but he was failing.

The last owners hadn’t fled without warning. They’d gently packed everything they could afford to move with and left. Everything inside was untouched.

There was still furniture: a couch and chairs, a dining room table, stove and icebox. The bedrooms with doors open still had beds and dressers. All the surfaces scrubbed clean before they left, the layer of dust on everything was smooth like a blanket of snow.

Hollis hadn’t spent much time thinking about what tenements looked like when he was learning about them in school. He knew it wasn’t his turn to be upset, but he was anyway.