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She stalled, fretting with the arm of the chair and tapping her fingers against her glass. “What do you want to hear? What are you trying to ask?”
“Why don’t you want me moving down by the river? What’s the real reason, and why do you keep tap-dancing around it? I’m plenty old enough to get my own place, and you’ve been hinting ever since I dropped out of college that I ought to find one. So I picked this one, and it looks like a good pick. Why won’t you let me take it without giving me all this grief? What is it that you don’t like about the place?”
“I told you the truth,” she insisted. “It’s down in the flood zone, down there by the river. One bad storm . . . ,” she gestured out at the puddle-pocked yard. “One flub-up at TVA, and you’re living underwater. ”
“That’s true of half the city, though—even the university, I bet. Where do you want me to go?”
“Maybe the dormitories? At least they’re farther away from the water. And what about the old buildings they converted downtown, and on MLK? There are lots of perfectly good places that would get you up on dry land and keep you near the university. ”
“The dormitories suck, and MLK is still pretty ghetto. These apartments are nicer. What’s wrong with them that you’re not telling me?”
She reclaimed her drink and took another swallow, and she stared out through the sheets of water that boxed us in. “Look at all this,” she said softly. “Look at all this rain. The river will rise with it, locks or no locks. ”
“Funny you should say that. Not an hour ago I was talking to someone else about the river rising. He’s trying to tell me that the river’s edge is an unhealthy place to be; and he’s been saying that when the water’s high, bad things happen to people who frequent the banks down there. ”
She didn’t say anything, so I kept talking.
“Of course, he’s talking about the south banks—there at Ross’s Landing. He’s not talking about the north riverbanks. ”
“Like it matters,” she grumbled. “Same river. ”
“And if I told you that this friend of mine says that people are disappearing from down by the river, might you believe him?”
“That depends on the friend. You know some real . . . pieces of work. ” How funny, that she used the same phrase as Eliza’s nurse.
“Fair enough. ” I didn’t think she’d ever met Christ, but I couldn’t say for sure. “Let’s say he’s someone reliable, and he was ready to commit crimes to keep people away from—”
“You know who set the fire down there?”
“I didn’t say that. Let me finish. But say I did know—and he swore to me in front of God and everybody that he had a good reason and that everyone needed to steer clear of that place. Would you say he’s a fool, or that he’s got a good head on him?”
“Jesus,” she whispered.
“Practically. ”
“What?”
“Never mind. Just talk to me. Just tell me. What are you really worried about?”
“I can’t tell you, because I can’t say. I never saw anything. ” She sounded like she was ready to stonewall, but she was starting to talk and that was better than nothing. “Your mother, though. She saw something there—or she thought she did. She used to dream she did. ”
“But you didn’t see anything. ”
“I heard something. It was . . . ” She was still sorting out how much to share, and I let her. Some was better than none. “It was a long time ago. Back down on Frasier. Do you remember there used to be an armory there?”
“Sure,” I nodded. I was too young for the big rave parties that used to happen there before they tore it down, but I knew about them. “Where Coolidge Park is now. Where they put the carousel. ”
“That’s right. One night, I was down there with Leslie, ‘cause she wanted to see inside it. It’s a long story. The short version is, we got inside and we couldn’t get out. The river rose up behind us and flooded the place, and we were stuck in the attic all night. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. ”
“Of what?”
“Girl, we were just kids. It was dark, and we were trapped away from home. ”
“And?”
“And. ” She let the word drop like she wasn’t going to pick it up again, but then she did. “And we weren’t alone. The river . . . something came up with it. I don’t know what. But I heard it. Them. ”
“Them?”
