By Ben Greenman
from forthcoming collection, as yet untitled
On Friday night some Deacon children roving on the edge of the woods on the north side of town found an old automobile, apparently abandoned, with no one inside. The Deacons, ranging in age from nine to fourteen, engaged in an extended debate about how best to approach the vehicle and eventually decided to send Gloria, the oldest, to peer in the window. She found the keys still in the ignition. When the car was started by Juliette, eleven, the radio played a cassette of a classical composition that Sharon, the youngest Deacon, described as “peaceful but with energy.” The trunk contained a half-dozens bags of uncured cement, and in the back seat there were remnants of a take-out meal of chicken sandwiches. One, still mostly intact, indicated a hurried departure. A folder labeled “Map of the Forest” was missing its contents. The ten-year old triplets, Vanessa, Louise, and Penny, eventually encouraged Juliette, by acclaim the most confident driver of the seven and at any rate the only one entirely comfortable with a manual transmission, to take the car back into Ramsford.
No comments:
Post a Comment