shirin_malekfazeli

But this journey was extraordinary . . . it had a pioneer feel – the enormous Hudson,

with chunks of ice like broken pavement in the water;

and the huge wealthy forests, the valley full of forts and

power stations and opportunistic houses glooming on

vast icy bluffs, the railway stations more like adventurers’ huts than anything in Europe – barely manned

outposts without proper platforms, and with outlandish

names . . . Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, Schenectady; the train

high above the ground, the big wheels polishing the rails,

and the driver blowing that childishly dissonant horn. 

“Why are theycalled ‘the Croatoan?’ Wasn’t that the name of a local Native American tribe near Roanoke?” 

“Yes. According to Grandpa, the Spaniards carved the name into the tree to

point the blame for Roanoke at the natives. But it ended up sticking.

The tea arrived, carried by a very red teenaged boy.

 Trying to make sense of what the healer said was impossible, worse

than listening to a chattering sparrow. Thinking of sparrows distracted Coo

for a moment from her flip-flopping nerves. She took a step closer and,

trembling, pushed Burr forward.

Before they moved to Durham – and moved up in the world – Mam pretended to the fancy neighbours at the end of the street, in the big corner house, that they ate meat at least three times a week for dinner. The old dirtylaundry smell of boiled cabbage: to this day, he refused to eat cabbage, refused to buy it. And yet he liked what he saw here. It was distinct, everything had sharp outlines, the shock of its difference had its own kind of strong pewter taste.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ 

‘Sounds ominous.’ She was always alarmed, as a kid, when adults began an inquisition with, ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you.’ It was so palpable – two birds tearing at flesh

 The colours were more garish than on English telly – almost what he thought of as an Arab brightness in the lighting (a leathery man and a pretty woman at a news desk, virulent reds and blues behind them, the news-crawl along the bottom of the screen just obscuring the woman’s breasts). 

 He pointed the remote at the gigantic, looming TV, hanging like a vertical table, the place at which everyone now meets for hospitality, and jabbed at the buttons with not very expert fingers.

" Then he dropped into conversation that Janey was the sister of Miriam Pendergast, with whom we d gone to high school."

The performers who showed up on the stage every night were like the slender man said: tall,

tan, and terrific. Meaning, as far as Willie could see, five foot five, light-skinned, and young.

On the screens, miles above the earth, nine of the missiles exploded. There was a huge flare of fire

and then their feeds disintegrated into static.

People get packed off into retirement

and have a tough time adjusting to the real world on a skimpy pension. After you’ve spent your whole

life fighting for freedom and democracy, early-bird specials and bingo nights don’t really cut it.

I came in sixth by one hundredth of a point. One judge thought I

didn’t stick the landing on the dismount from my balance beam routine, even though I did. I totally

stuck it. But that’s gymnastics for you. One lousy hundredth of a point makes all the difference

between living your dreams—and having them dashed to pieces.

Kagan filched plenty

from me over the years. I can’t even count how many bullets I lent him. But was he there when I

needed someone to stand up for me? No.

We left Tyneside

behind, we crossed the ancient healed coalfield, we saw

the sea shining.

Outside The Cluny, of course, where we and others like

us gathered, where we lay at fretful ease on the sloping

grass to dream of being artists, where we explored the

ways of love and friendship, where we trembled with the

weird joys and pains of being young and getting older,

where we yearned for freedom and ached just to belong.

He was losing human form. He crawled

on all fours, and yelled out drink- and drug-fuelled

animal howls and yaps and yelps.