| 2:43a |
@@@@@I don't know how long it would
have worked
@@@@@I don't know how long it would
have worked over the long haul, though - they were
like mad dogs
Wireman replaced the silver-tipped harpoon he'd
used on Emery in his belt"Speaking of the long
haul, we might consider another storage container
for your new dollWhat do you think, Edgar?"
He was rightSomehow I couldn't imagine Perse
spending the next eighty years in the barrel of a
Garrity flashlightI was already wondering how
thin the shield between the battery case and the
lens housing might beAnd the rock that had
fallen out of the cistern wall and cracked the
Table Whiskey keg: had that been an accidentor
a final victory of mind over matter after years of
patient work? Perse's version of digging through
the wall of her cell with a sharpened spoonhandle?
Still, the flashlight had served its purposeGod
bless Jack Cantori's practical mindNo - that was
too chintzy
"There's a custom silversmith in Sarasota,"
Wireman said"Mexicano muy talentosoMiss
Eastlake has - had - a few pieces of his stuffI
1088
bet I could commission him to make a watertight
tube big enough to hold the flashlightThat'd
give us what insurance companies and football
coaches call double coverageIt'd be pricey, but
so what? Barring probate snags, I'm going to be an
extremely wealthy manCaught a break there,
muchacho
"La lotería," I said, without thinking
Help me tip Emery into the cisternI really don't want
to touch it
"I'll help with Emery," I said"You hold onto the
flashlightWireman? Let's do this
The two of us rolled Emery into the hole, then
threw in the pieces of him that broke off - or as
many as we could findI still remember his stony
coral grin as he tumbled into the dark to join his
bride |