Ginny Gall (52 page)

“You better get out of here,” the Ghost said.

Delvin looked hard into his eyes.

“I got to preserve order here,” the Ghost said.

“Think you can?”

“I don’t know, but I got to.”

The woman on the bed looked asleep.

“Jou kill her?” the Ghost said.

“Naw, boon. I knocked her out.”

“Well, you better hightail it.”

He didn’t want this man telling him what to do. But he knew he had to go.

“Stand away from the door. “

The Ghost edged away, closer to the woman on the bed. She was snoring.

“Don’t come after me. Don’t call anybody.”

“I won’t.”

Delvin grinned at him. “It’s all yours,” he said.

“Has been—is—will be.”

“Sho.”

He turned and dashed out into the hall, bounded down the stairs and then, walking calmly, quietly, left the house.

Over the mountains to the west the stars were up, little white parings. He headed that way, the woods weren’t far. In his mind he was already gone, riding a freight north. As he ran, the train faded and was replaced by a small, spare room . . . in Ypsilanti maybe . . . or Toronto. He was in the little kitchen making himself a pot of chinese tea. On his desk a fresh page poked up from the typewriter. In it he was running through a field of blossoming sorghum, escaping from Uniball prison. He ran toward the blue bristling escarpment of leafed-out mountains. As the first cries started up behind him he entered the dark woods of his freedom.

Thanks to Michael Signorelli, PJ Mark, and Cal Morgan for their help in carrying the load, and to Buzz Wagner, Anne Sunkel, Michael Block, Lawrence Joseph, Stan Brent, Robert Morris, and Jack Eppler, and thanks to the folks on Tuesday nights at St. Mary’s and to my fellow travelers at the Chinatown Y, and thanks to Marcia Markland who stood up for the book, and a special thanks to Arlo Haskell, Miles Frieden, and the trustees of the Key West Literary Seminar for making possible several lengthy stays in KW that were revitalizing and essential to the work I did during those years, and most of all thanks and love top to bottom, front, sides, in around under and behind the house of this fiction to Daniela.

CHARLIE SMITH
is the author of eight novels, eight books of poetry, and a book of novellas. He has won numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Aga Khan Prize, the Levinson Prize, the J. Howard and Barbara Wood Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The
New York Times
has selected three of his books as Notable Books of the Year and two as Editors’ Choices. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the
New Yorker
, the
Paris Review
, and the
New York Times
. He lives in New York City.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Jump Soul: New and Selected Poems

Men in Miami Hotels

Three Delays

Word Comix

Women of America

Heroin and Other Poems

Cheap Ticket to Heaven

Before and After

Chimney Rock

The Palms

Crystal River (Storyville, Crystal River, Tinian)

Indistinguishable from the Darkness

The Lives of the Dead

Shine Hawk

Red Roads

Canaan

No person, place, or exact situation in this book ever existed on earth before, including (despite their names) all states, cities, towns, tribes, oceans, parks, and general zones.

GINNY GALL.
Copyright © 2016 by Charlie Smith. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN: 978-0-06-225055-1

EPub Edition February 2016 ISBN 9780062250568

16  17  18  19  20    
OV
/
RRD
    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

Cover design by Gregg Kulick

Cover photographs: courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (houses);

View of Wytheville
(oil on canvas) by Edward Beyer (1820–65) courtesy Virginia Historical Society / Bridgeman Images (background);

© FPG / Getty Images (train tracks);

© Heritage Images / Getty Images (clouds)