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The dirtwarehouse with aisles of individual shops separated by counters or curtains Barron and I would get Philip or Grandad to drive us, and then we’d spend the day eating hog dogs and buying cheap knives to hide in our boots Barron would coot there, he’d disappear to chat up the girl orked selling pickles out of vats

The place doesn’t look all that different from how it did then Out front a wouy is trying to hawk a bunch of rabbit pelts Three for five bucks

Inside, the srowl I head toward the back, past the eel-skin wallet stall and the place with the heavy silver rings and pewter dragons, toward the fortune-tellers with their velvet skirts and e five dollars to say "You sometimes feel lonely, even in the coic loss that has given you an unusual perceptiveness" or even "You are usually shy, but in the future you are going to find yourself the center of attention"

There are lots of little malls like these in Jersey, but this one’s only twenty minutes fro charms made by retired residents; a feorkers even freelance their services out of the back It’s the best place to go for a little cheap curse work that’s not directly related to the crime families And the charet froas station

I walk up to a scarf-draped table "Crooked Annie," I say, and the old wo plastic and glass rings over her purple satin gloves, and she’s got on several layers of dresses with tiny bells along the hem

"I know you, Cassel Sharpe How’s your er than I’ve been alive She’s old school Discreet And with as little knowledge as I have, the one thing I’m sure of is that I can’t afford to share it

"Jail Got caught working sohs She’s in the life, so she’s not surprised or embarrassed for ht forward "Out soon?"

I nod, although I’ she didn’t do it (which I don’t believe), that the evidence against her is prejudice and hand waving (which I sort of do believe), and that it will be overturned on the appeal that’s been dragging on "You h I’htly removed, unable to upturn our lives at a htly crazya despot

"I need to buy a couple of charms For meood?"

I srin wicked She pats my face with a satin-covered hand I remember that I haven’t shaved and that h to catch the fabric, but she doesn’t seem to mind "Just like your brothers You knohat they used to say about boys like you? Clever as the devil and twice as pretty"

It’s kind of a ridiculous co at the floor "I have soic Look, I know I’m not a worker, but I really need to know"

Annie pushes aside a worn pack of tarot cards "Sit," she says, and rue plastic toolbox Inside it is an array of rocks She pulls out a shining piece of onyx with a hole bored through the s first Here are the charood amulets look like junk These don’t look so bad

"I hate to ask," I say, sitting down backward on the hardfancier?"

I shake my head "Just smaller"

She mutters under her breath and turns back to her stock "Here, I’ve got this" She holds up a pebble, ravel

"I’ll take these," I say, pointing to the pebble and the onyx circle "In fact, give ot them Plus the onyx"

Annie raises her eyebrows but says only, "Forty Each"

Nor the cost so she can justify giving me the inforrins her black-toothed grin "So, what do you want to know?"

"How can you tell if your ed? Is there just a black hole in your thoughts? Can hts a hand-rolled cigarette that stinks of green tea leaves "I’ anybody when I answer this I’, you understand? All I do is I make some of these aovernal yet"

"Sure," I say, affronted "Just because I’ for you I’ it for the edification of anyone who happens to be listening in on this conversation And they do"

"Who does?"

She gives arette, blowing herbal sh I’m pretty sure she’s just paranoid, possibly with a touch of dee to look behind me

"On to your questions How it feels depends on who did the working The best workers make it seamless They’ll remove a memory and replace it with a new one The worst ones are slobs They ht be able to make you remember you owe them money, but if there’s noany either, you’re going to start asking questions

"Most memory workers fall somewhere in the middle in terms of skill They leave behind pieces, threads A blue sky without the rest of a day Aching sorroith no cause"

"Clues," I say

"Sure, if you want to call thearette "There’s four different kinds of ht out of your head, leaving that big hole you’re talking about, or they can give you new h your memories and learn stuff, or they can simply block your access to your ownaccess one?" I touch the sainst the pad of er

"Because it’s easier to block access than to remove aa single piece of aa whole new one And if you remove the block, then the memory comes back, which is nice if you want to be able to reverse the process"

I nod