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“Hey, Ghost!” Levi calls out, leaning on the sill. “Have you met my husband?” He pulls me to the window.
“Hello, Professor.”
“Bastien is fine,” I say. “If we are to be neighbors.”
“So, you movin’ in?” he asks. He has dark, curly hair and looks like one of those guys that have a lot of secrets. His voice is deep.
“Looks like,” Levi answers.
Even though we’re looking down on him, he’s still tall. I peer at him. For some reason, when I heard the name I was picturing a biker with tattoos on his knuckles. I feel like I’ve heard that name before but can’t place where.
“If you need some help moving in, let me know. I’ve got two brothers with strong backs.”
Oh, putain. I just remembered where I know his name from. “Wait, are you the guy that Delphine, ummm…” I try to find a nice way to ask if he’s her enforcer.
Ghost peers at me and cracks his neck without breaking eye contact. “I help where I can.”
“We’re really grateful for all your help,” Levi says, draping his arm around my shoulders. If he were a dog he’d be pissing on my leg. I try not to roll my eyes.
Ghost studies me. “So you’re the professor they canned,” he says.
“Yeah.” I glance at the curtains twitching at the nearest two trailers.
I must have a mortified expression on my face, because he looks over his shoulder at them and shrugs. “Look, there are no secrets in the Needles. Everybody thinks they’ll move in and keep something private, and it never happens. Let me know when you’re moving in. My brothers and I’ll get your boxes in the door. You need a good lawyer, or a good guy to fix your car, let me know.”
Levi brightens immediately. “Oh! Lawyer us up, man. I’ve got some candidates in my head but word on the street’s golden.” He leans out the back window fully, as if preparing for a long chat about this.
I give up and make a full tour of the place, peer into the closets, and test the floors for rot. When I get back into the bedroom Levi is just closing up the window. He turns back to me, smiling. “That was really helpful. Nobody knows the criminal justice system better than the people who’ve sat through it on the wrong side.”
“Great.” I want to make it sound like I’m sharing his enthusiasm. I’m not. I pivot on the threadbare carpet in the bedroom. The room is so small that I don’t know how we’re ever going to fit in here.
Levi pokes his head into the closet. “Hmmm. It’ll be a squeeze, but we’ll make it work.”
I take a deep breath and suddenly, I can’t anymore. I sag to the floor, and the next thing I know, I’m on all fours, gasping for air and terrified. Levi pulls me over onto my side and spoons me, murmuring.
“It isn’t supposed to be like this,” I say.
“It’s okay, baby boy.”
“I’ve worked all my life to be something.”
“You are something.”
“No, I’m not. I’m living in the second-largest trailer park in the state. I know people named Ghost, who can advise me on the right lawyers. I was supposed to be able to give you something more.”
“Hey. Look at the window.” His voice changes. It goes flat and slow and it comes from somewhere over my shoulder. “Tell me four things you can see. Out loud.”
“Levi—”
“Four things. Go.”
I look up at the window. From this angle, I can see sky, clouds, the sill. And that’s it. He doesn’t help me with the fourth. He waits, with his hand flat between my shoulder blades, until I find it myself, and then he says, “Good. Now breathe out for longer than you breathe in. Longer going out. That’s it.”
“I’m okay now. Good trick.”
Levi smiles at me. “VA’s useful for something.”
“I’m officially trailer park trash. It’s not supposed to be like this.”
