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"I don't want to listen I want you to go "

"I know you do "

"Look, I never meant to kill you, I'm sorry, it was all a mistake, I should have picked so all this would sound later, and right now I begged God, of all people, please make this stop, all of it, stop

"You knohere I was born, don't you?" he asked "You know that block of St Charles near Jackson?"

I nodded "The boardinghouse," I said "Don't tell me the story of your life There's no reason Besides, it's over You had your chance to write it dohen you were alive, just like anyone elseWhat do you expect me to do with it?"

"I want to tell you the things that count Look at me! Look at me, please, try to understandyou "

I didn't have to see his expression to understand this keen agony, this protective cry Is there anything under God that can be done to us that willour child suffer? Our loved ones? Those closest to us? Dora, tiny Dora walking in the e out, singing

II couldn't clearing head for asupernatural, only misery, and the realization that he was there, palpable, visible, expecting so froh in this ephemeral form to demand a promise of me

"You do love ued

Way beyond flattery, Way beyond me

"Passion," I whispered "It was your passion "

"Yes, I know I'm flattered I wasn't run down by a truck in the street, or shot by a hit man You killed me! You, arid you must be one of the best of them "

"Best of what?"

"Whatever you call yourself You're not human Yet you are You sucked my blood out ofon it now Surely you're not the only one " He looked away"Vahosts when I was a boy in our house in New Orleans "

"Everybody in New Orleans sees ghosts "