Chapel of Ease (36 page)
Authors: Alex Bledsoe
“So ⦠how do you feel?”
I almost shrieked. Ray stood beside me, as solid as if he'd been alive. He had his hands in his denim jacket pockets, and grinned with delight.
“Do you
ever
plan to just
die
?” I snapped.
“Yeah, don't worry, this is the last time you'll see me. I just had to check in after the show, you know?”
“Did you see it?”
“Of course I saw it.”
“So what did you think?”
“Pretty good.”
“âPretty good'?”
“Hey, what do you want? The perfect version is in my head. But you guys got awful close.”
“We're moving to Broadway after this,” I said proudly. “Did you know that?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you know everything, smart-ass, why are you here?”
“Two reasons. One is to tell you that Thorn is a handful, and you need to make sure you set up some very clear rules before she moves in. Give her an inch, she'll take I-40.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“Second ⦠thank you.”
“For what?”
“For keeping the secret. About what was buried in the chapel of ease. I know it wasn't easy for you.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you even
write
that story? What about it spoke to you?”
He paused for a moment, and evidently the effort of thinking made him less substantial, because he began to fade. Then he grew solid again and said, “It was universal. It was a love story.”
“But it didn't happen the way your play tells it.”
He shrugged. “I'm not a historian, dude. The play was inspired by it, not based on it. Hell, I couldn't really name a character âDobber,' could I?”
That actually made sense. “So this is good-bye for real, then?”
“Yeah. Except I got one more thing to tell you.”
“What?”
“A gift. Just for you. I know I can trust you to keep it.”
He leaned close and whispered in my ear. I felt no breath, and no warmth of a presence, but I heard him quite clearly. When he finished, I knew he was gone for good, forever. I stood all alone on the Armpit's stage.
But he'd told me what was buried in the chapel of ease.
And he was right: it didn't matter at all.
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Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
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All song lyrics are original, except for those listed below.
C
HAPTER 12
“The Unclouded Day”
composed by Joseph K. Atwood in 1885
http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/The_Unclouded_Day/
C
HAPTER 15
“The Wife of Usher's Well”
#79 in a collection of 305 ballads collected in the nineteenth century by Francis James Child and originally published in ten volumes between 1882 and 1898
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Child_Ballads
C
HAPTER 23
“Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More”
1865, according to the Public Domain Info Project
http://www.pdinfo.com/pd-song-list/search-pd-songs.php
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BOOKS BY
ALEX BLEDSOE
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ALEX BLEDSOE
grew up in West Tennessee, but now lives in Wisconsin. He is the acclaimed author of the Eddie LaCrosse novels (
The Sword-Edged Blonde; Burn Me Deadly; Dark Jenny; Wake of the Bloody Angel; He Drank, and Saw the Spider)
, the Tufa series (
The Hum and the Shiver; Wisp of a Thing; Long Dark Curl
), and the Memphis Vampires (
Blood Groove; The Girls with Games of Blood)
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CONTENTS
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
CHAPEL OF EASE
Copyright © 2016 by Alex Bledsoe
All rights reserved.
Cover photographs by Tim Daniels/Arcangel Images (chapel) and Joel Carillet/Getty Images (man)
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-7656-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5142-9 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466851429
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First Edition: September 2016