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To spare Homeland Security confusion, I noted that no Me Memorial Park Avenue or at either end, and I cautioned hi any of the town’s bluffs
I told the FBI about the tugboat, and I’ers, I said, because I don’t fully trust all this with one agency And you should not trust everyone in the Magic Beach Police Depart up, I went to the front door and looked through one of the flanking sidelights at the porch I saw no coyotes, so I left the house
Behind ent fro to say to either
By the time I reached the porch steps, the packwere not a weather condition but instead a doorway through which they could step in an instant off the dry inland hills fifty ions of radiant yellow eyes receded into theto recall the effective words that Anna Hecate’s Canyon, I said, You do not belong here
As I descended the steps, the coyotes failed to retreat
The rest of the world is yours…but not this place at this moment
As I descended the final step and arrived on the ay, the coyotes swar low in their throats, others er
They smelled offorward, I said, I am not yours You will leave now
They seemed to think that I was mistaken, that I was indeed theirs, that they had seen the ainst s
Annaoodness never fearful
I know, I told the coyotes, that you are not only what you appear to be, and I a you are
That was a lie, but it was not a fraction as outrageous as the multitudinous lies that I had told to Chief Hoss Shackett and his associates
One of the beasts nipped the left leg of ed
You will leave now, I said firmly but serenely, without a tremor in my voice, as Anna of rowing h their thickly furred and pluer than the others, with a proud chest ruff and a larger head than any in the pack
Coyotes co of their flexible and expressive ears, by the positions of their tails, and with other body language
As this leader approached e, his every expression of ears and tail was at oncetheh I had the words that Anna to look as if that was the difference between coyotes skulking away in defeat and coyotes ripping , in the Brick District, a still small voice deep inside me had said Hide when a harbor-depart tords: the bell
I did not have Annaed to Annamaria, and I fished it froer than a thimble, would be too s in shine in this foggy dark to attract their notice
Yet when I let it lie upon the blue field of my sweatshirt, the eyes of the leader went to it, and as well the eyes of the others
The rest of the world is yours, I repeated, but not this place at this moment
The leader did not relent, but soan to shy away fromeye contact with him and with him alone You will leave now
He did not look away fro
You will leave now, I repeated, and I moved forward once h I couldn’t lay claioodness and virtue to the extent that I would have liked
Now, I insisted, and with one hand touched the bell upon my chest Go now
One moment, the eyes of the leader were sharp hat seeh no animal has the capacity for hate, an emotion that, like envy, humanity reserves for itself
The next moment, his fierce eyes clouded with confusion He turned his head, surveying the rapidly deserting throng that he had rallied He seemed to be surprised to find hie place
When he stared directly at ain, I knew that he was now only what he appeared to be, a beautiful work of nature, and nothing else, and nothing darker
Go, I said gently, back to your ho than of the wolf, he backed away, turned, and sought the path that would lead hi closed all its yellow eyes, and the scent of musk faded beyond detection
I walked unhindered to the Mercedes and drove away
At the corner of Mehcliff Drive, the Salvation Ar duht deposits
When I tried to lift the satchel frohweight was the sas the sahtning-bolt drain grating, and all of them of an identical character with the phanto
Twenty pounds, I said No ht is done
I lifted the satchel with ease It fit in the bin’s revolving drawer, and I let it roll away into the softness of donated clothing
I closed the trunk, got in the Mercedes, and drove back toward Blossoave no indication that it would lift on this quieter side of ainst it, or even noon
One redheaded gunman remained, but I suspected that he had been the wisest of that unwise crowd, that he had tucked his tail, lowered his head, and made for home, and that I would need neither bell nor bullet to dispel hiot Birdie Hopkins’s home phone number from information and called to tell her that I was alive She said, Ditto, and it was a fine thing to think of her out there in Magic Beach, waiting for the next twinge that would send her in search of the person who needed her
FORTY-NINE
IN THE COTTAGE OF THE HAPPY MONSTER waited the lingering spirit of Mr Sinatra, olden retriever once nah enchanto barrel of fire had neither ruined her life nor stolen the essence of her beauty When she had delight in her heart, her face transcended all her suffering, whereupon the scars and the deformed features and the mottled skin became the remarkable face of a hero and the cherished face of a friend
Co me by the hand froht
Annaathered the visible and the invisible
On the table lay one of the white floith thick waxy petals that grew as large as bowls on the tree I had not been able to narows these? I asked Blossoht this with her
Raphael ca with pleasure, and I crouched to pet hi a flower, I told Annamaria
She took it from her purse, said Blossom Annamaria, show hilass bowl of water Annamaria floated the flower in it
No, Blossom, she said This is yours Keep it to reht? Blossos in their tientle smiles that you wanted to look at forever, but foranyht
Do you wish to leave town alone?
No We’ll go together
The candlelight seemed to attend her