“What's the word?”
“He's delirious. A minute ago he was saying something about his roller skates being different colors.”
“Are they going to dust him off?”
“Can't get a bird in here now,” he says sharply.
I'm only three feet away from him and I can barely make out his blue eyes and those sharp cheekbones because there is so much water falling between us. At the same time I think of the story of Noah's Ark, and it dawns on me that I haven't seen Peacock reading the Bible for a long time. He isn't religious about it or anything, he reads it because of the stories, he says. Still, for no reason I could explain, I turn back downhill. I have to dig my heels in with all the force I can to keep from sliding chin-first to the hooch. I go to Peacock's ruck and open the top flap just enough to g
