The Wooden Sea

Epilogue

Much against Magda’s wishes, the funeral turned out to be a huge event. None of Fra

Granted, there were also many stories about what a rotten kid he had been. How he had once set fire to a principal’s car. Been expelled from school, been arrested, caused his father pain. But his death made those stories into anecdotes, apocryphal, chuckles mostly. Old Fra

So what if he’d been a wicked kid—McCabe grew up to be one hell of a man. He was a good friend, one hundred percent dependable; he loved his wife and did his job well. Those things are what count and people were grateful to have known him.

Thank God the boy was there. Gary Graham was his real name but he preferred being called Gee-Gee. A handsome kid. People who knew said he looked just like Fra

On the day Gee-Gee came to stay with the McCabe’s, his aunt was rushed to the hospital and his uncle died! Not much of a welcome but that didn’t matter: He stepped right up and won people’s admiration by the way he behaved.

He and Pauline arranged the funeral together, brought Magda home from the hospital, and led her to the gravesite when it was time. Then those two good kids stood by while she looked down at her husband’s simple coffin.

Someone nearby heard her say only one thing: “I like you.” Then she threw a pink rose onto his coffin and returned to her seat. Besides the large turnout the only other things that surprised people were the fact that Fra

No one had ever seen the man before. An elegantly dressed black gentleman, he seemed to have the confidence of a politician and the voice of a radio a

People were hesitant to ask Magda what this man’s co

When it was over and people were walking away, the boy approached the minister and asked in a tense hiss if they could talk a minute. The man tossed him a shrewd smile and said certainly, as soon as he was free they’d talk. Free meant after shaking as many hands as the man could find. He really did behave like he was ru

Watching him patiently wait with his hands held in front of him, people thought Gee-Gee only wanted to thank the minister.

But when they were finally alone, the boy looked both ways to make sure no one was listening and then he let fly. “You fuck! You bastard! What are you doing here?”

“Gee-Gee, you should thank me for letting you come back. I didn’t have to, you know.”

“No, I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Why don’t you tell me? Huh? You think you could do that?”

The man looked at an exquisite silver-and-black wristwatch on his left arm. When the boy saw it his eyes popped. “That’s his watch. You stole his watch!”

“Borrowed. It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? Really a handsome piece. I’ll give it to you when we’re done here. Then you can pretend to have found it and get points with Magda. Yes, that’s the best way to do it.” He seemed very pleased with this idea.

In contrast, the boy was seething. His mouth was pinched down into a thin straight line that turned his lips almost white. Any moment it looked like he might jump on the minister and attack him although the other man was much larger.

Now that the service was finished, cemetery workers that had been waiting at a discreet distance quickly appeared all around them. Two started snapping closed the green folding chairs. Another took down floral arrangements. A bulldozer nearby started up but for some unknown reason shut right down again with a few motory burps and coughs. More men came along to fold the chairs. The minister and teenager were clearly in the way so they moved a few feet off.

“Why are you here again? Why am I? I thought I was dead.”

“You were. I brought you back.”

“And I’m supposed to be grateful for it? Am I supposed to say thank you?”

“That would be nice.”

Instead, the boy jumped in front of the minister and shot both right and left fuck-you fingers at him. One cemetery worker saw and whooped. He pointed at them and kept laughing. Giving a minister the finger! That was a good one. Astopel looked at the worker and nodded his approval—he thought it was fu

“Why did you do it? And if I was coming back, why not send me to my right time?”

“This is your time from now on, Gee-Gee. Get used to it.” Astopel reached into his jacket pocket and rummaged around for something in there. He looked at the brilliant blue sky while searching. Sunlight glinted off the crystal face of his watch. Once it shot into the boy’s eye and he had to look away.

“Here we go. Look at this and pay close attention.” From lis pocket Astopel brought out a handful of eight marbles. The colors were not unusual—cat’s-eyes, a blue, a red, some were doubles—two yellows. Kids’ marbles.

“This is the life of Fra

Shaking them again, click click, he tossed them back into the air. The same thing happened, only this time they spread out like buckshot and froze in no discernible pattern. One here, one there, one higher, two lower...

“And this too is the life of Fra

“You’re using me. You and the rest of you fucking aliens are using my life to get what you want.”

“Using? No. We’re only moving you around inside your own life.” Picking the marbles out of the air, he shook them. They clicked. “At the end of his life just now Fra