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“Did De
Speculation was giving A
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Davidson Island swam up on A
The door stood open, the screen closed to keep out the blackflies that had come into bloom with the spiky pink fire-weed in late June. A luna moth, nearly big enough to transport Dr. Dolittle to the moon, clung to the wire above the door handle. Not wanting to disturb it by knocking, A
“Anybody home?”
“Just us chickens,” came the reply. A
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“Glad you’re here,” Sandra said. She sniffed the air and smiled. “The place could use a little swamping out.”
“Looks like home to me,” A
“Upstairs getting her other picture albums. I guess there’s quite a few.”
For the first time A
“We’ve been looking at photo albums all afternoon,” Sandra said. “I don’t know whether your life flashes before your eyes the moment before you die, but I’m here to tell you it flashes before everybody else’s the moment after.”
“Must be kind of weird,” A
“Not really. I’d like to see David and Joseph Muench’s stuff. I’d give my left tit to see Ansel Adams photographs of Yosemite. But album snapshots are for talking over, not looking at.” Sandra poked a well-manicured index finger randomly at the open book. “ ‘There I am with Aunt Gertie in front of the old Packard. That was my first grown-up dress. Mom had to stuff tissue in my bra so the darts wouldn’t fold over. My first high heels. Look how my ankles buckle.’ ”
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“Hard to say. She doesn’t cry. At least not in front of me. She’s not crying over the pictures. She’s proving something to herself. That De
“Something besides persistence?”
“Once they’re dead, they can never make it up to you.”
“And you can never make it up to them,” A
Maybe next weekend, when the Kamloops dive was behind her, she would take Zach’s ashes out and sprinkle them in the crystal waters of Five Finger Bay. Molly would be relieved. Christina would cry. What would she do? A
“Got them.” The voice came at the same instant as Jo’s footstep on the stair. Unconsciously A
Jo closed the album on the table as carefully as if it were one of Shakespeare’s original folios and replaced it with another. This one was more what A
Jo stood between Sandra and A
Sandra wasn’t missing an image.
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“Here’s another one of De
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