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Authors: Ariel S. Winter

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I heard the sound of somebody crying. I turned to see Kent with a handkerchief to his eyes, although they were quite dry. The sound was real, though. As Clarke had done with his laugh, Kent had downloaded a recording of a real human's tears.

We were burying his sister and—would he say . . . his brother?

I thought again of the story he had told me weeks before. He had been left with nothing. Or perhaps, by being left with grief, he had more than any of us.

Clarke started filling the grave at once, and Kapec followed his lead. I expected Kent to protest, and I almost protested on his behalf. There should be something said. There should be some ceremony. But Kent just cried. Clarke and Kapec worked. I stood to the side, watching. It was as if I had been granted an opportunity to see firsthand part of the story that I had learned from Dean. This could just as well have been Philip's funeral. Only now, it somehow lacked and yet was overwhelmed by the same sense of tragedy.

The ground was flat in only twenty-four minutes. Clarke and Kapec walked away, taking their shovels with them.

“And so it goes,” Kent said, dabbing at his dry eyes one more time. Then he too turned and went back to the house.

I stood over the bare patch of dirt. The sun was on its way down, casting the backyard in the shadow of the house. The ocean was dark now, but still vocal. I started toward the cliff stairs, on my way to the cabana.

I had hoped that Beachstone would be able to give me an answer about life and death. To have the human knowledge of your own end must be the most comforting feeling in the world. Instead, I was left with Mary's conviction, Kent's mimicry, and Clarke's robotic stoicism. It made my own decision no clearer.

How could I ask to be shut down? What would tomorrow be without me? I might be old, but my interest in humans didn't seem to extend to a desire to share their fate. Shouldn't I have known that before I even left the city? I had ordered my spare parts after all. It was the first thing I had thought to do after I had let the bus hit me.

No, I thought, sitting in the cabana, watching the black waves, I had not found the answers I was looking for at Barren Cove.

About the Author

Ariel S. Winter was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Shamus Award, and the Macavity Award for his novel
The Twenty-Year Death.
He is also the author of the children's picture book
One of a Kind,
illustrated by David Hitch, and the blog
We Too Were Children, Mr. Barrie
. He lives in Baltimore. Follow him on Twitter
@ArielSWinter
.

MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

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Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Ariel-S-Winter

ALSO BY ARIEL S. WINTER

The Twenty-Year Death

One of a Kind
(for children)

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Ariel S. Winter

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Jacket design by Chelsea McGuckin

Jacket images: Young Man by Superstock/Getty; Robin by Kim Taylor/Getty; Gears by H. Armstrong Roberts/Getty; House, Textured Paper, and Ripped Paper by Shutterstock

Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe

Publisher: Emily Bestler

Editor: Megan Reid

Agent: Chelsea Lindman

Managing editors: Kimberly Goldstein, Aly D'Amato, and Leora Bernstein

Production editor: Ciara Robinson

Copyeditor: Polly Watson

Publicist: Mirtha Pena

Marketing: Hillary Tisman, Jin Yu

Art director: Albert Tang

Production manager: Fausto Bozza

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-4767-9785-4

ISBN 978-1-4767-9787-8 (ebook)

BOOK: Barren Cove
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