“Charles!” she says. She was wearing a hair clasp, a red barrette, like a girl.
Like that: as though we rehearsed it, as though this was our second time through, our second chance at living, not our first, not our only lives. And for years after that I cannot see, until that night on the boat.
I want to be there, he says. I feel honored.
You’ll do wonderfully.
I open my eyes, look to my right, at the inquisitive face behind glass. I smile. I take a deep breath.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by Michael Cadnum
Cover design by Kat JK Lee; photograph courtesy of the author
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