Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories (58 page)

A scramble now, a rapturous snuggle. One of Cornelia’s sandals fell off. Her forehead burrowed into the familiar softness between jaw and neck.

“Stay with me,” she whispered. Something was pawing at her … Regret? Reproval? Oh, get lost. This was bliss, this sloppy and forgiving hug. Bliss, again, after six dry decades. “Stay.”

It could not last. And now there was no one, no relative, no friend, no person, no animal, no plant, no water, no air. Cornelia was not alone, though; she was in the company of a hard semi-transparent sapphire substance, and as she watched, it flashed and then shattered, and shattered again, and again, all the while retaining its polyhedrality, seven sides exactly—she examined a piece on her palm to make sure, and it shattered there on her lifeline. Smaller and smaller, more and more numerous grew the components. Expanding in volume, they became a tumulus of stones, a mound of pebbles, a mountain of sand, a universe of dust, always retaining the blue color that itself was made up of royal and turquoise and white like first teeth. The stuff, finer still, churned, lifted her, tossed her, caressed her, entered her orifices, twirled and turned her, polished her with its grains. It rose into a spray that threw her aloft; it thickened into a spiral that caught her as she fell. She lay quiet in its coil. Not tranquil, no; she was not subject to poetic calm. She was spent. She was elsewhere.

S
OMETIME LATER
the geezer rowed out to the middle of the pond. He had been watching the drifting canoe for the last hour. A person’s business was a person’s business. He saw that his neighbor was dead. He tied the prow of the canoe to the stern of his rowboat and towed her ashore.

These stories originally appeared, sometimes in different form, in the following publications: “On Junius Bridge” in
Agni
; “Day of Awe” (as “To Reach This Season”), “Home Schooling,” “The Noncombatant,” and “The Story” in
Alaska Quarterly Review
; “Aunt Telephone,” “Chance,” “Elder Jinks,” and “Granski” in
Antioch Review
; “Allog,” “Capers,” and “ToyFolk” in
Ascent
; “Binocular Vision” and “Inbound” in
Boston Globe Magazine
; “Settlers” in
Commentary
; “The Ministry of Restraint” and “Vallies” in
Ecotone
; “The Coat,” “How to Fall,” “Jan Term,” and “Lineage” in
Idaho Review
; “Self-Reliance” in
Lake Effect
; “Hanging Fire” in
Massachusetts Review
; “The Little Wife” in
Ontario Review
; “Relic and Type” in
Pakn Treger
; “Mates” and “Unravished Bride” in
Pleiades
; “If Love Were All” in
turnrow
; “Girl in Blue with Brown Bag” in
West Branch
; and “Purim Night” and “Rules” in
Witness
.

“Inbound,” “Day of Awe” (as “To Reach This Season”), “Settlers,” “The Noncombatant,” and “Vaquita” were published in
Vaquita
(University of Pittsburgh, 1996). “Allog,” “Chance,” “ToyFolk,” “Tess” (as “Tess’s Team”), and “Fidelity” were published in
Love Among the Greats
(Eastern Washington University, 2002). “If Love Were All,” “Purim Night,” “The Coat,” “Mates,” “How to Fall,” “The Story,” “Rules,” and “Home Schooling” were published in
How to Fall
(Sarabande, 2005).

“Chance,” “Allog,” and “Self-Reliance” were selected for
Best American Short Stories
in 1998, 2000, and 2006, respectively. “Mates” and “Elder Jinks” were included in the
Pushcart Prize
volume in 2001 and 2008, respectively. “Hanging Fire” and “The Story” each won the O. Henry Prize and were included in that annual in 1978 and 2003, respectively. “Vaquita” was reprinted in
20: The Best of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize
.

L
OOKOUT IS MORE THAN A NAME
—it’s our publishing philosophy. Founded as the literary book imprint of the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Lookout pledges to seek out emerging and historically under represented voices, as well as works by established writers overlooked by commercial houses. In a publishing landscape increasingly indifferent to literary innovation, Lookout offers a haven for books that matter.

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