Boulevard (29 page)

He had stopped shivering. The sun poured through a window, and he sat in it, the tropical New Orleans sun, still vivid even on Halloween morning.

Last night, when it had been happening. When he had been in the midst of the beating, the sex that had turned into a beating, the terror that followed, the look on Jack's face, and Newell afraid to ask him to stop, even though Jack had promised he would stop at any point; Newell afraid to ask, in case it wasn't true. When Newell felt himself losing consciousness and wondered if he would ever wake up again. Maybe in the midst of that he had come to some decision.

This has gone too fast, he thought, when the bus pulled up and he realized the time had come and he was getting
on it, going home. But I made it fine, for a long time, and I can do it again, somewhere else. As he settled into his seat, watching the other passengers board, the bleak street beyond them, he felt a sudden relief, to be leaving all this without a word, and thought how surprised Flora would be, when he called her from Jackson to tell her he was coming home. Though he'd have to make it clear to her he didn't intend to stay long. There were so many other places to live, now that he had lived in New Orleans.

Miss Sophia, still walking the streets after another bad night, found herself ambling along Canal, the fabulous boulevard making a space large enough to contain her restlessness, when she halted at the intersection of Royal and Canal. A taxi pulled up, and a face swam toward the window, Newell's. He only glanced out the window and reclined out of sight once again, but she saw his face, in the taxi, so that later, when she heard the rumors, she was certain that in fact Newell had escaped. No one had murdered him at all. That morning, standing on the corner, she figured he was gone for good, because he was in a taxi, because he had a duffel bag beside him. She watched the taxi turn on Canal, join other traffic. The news cleared her mind. She decided to head home again, have a strong cup of coffee and a piece of king cake. Another boyfriend gone, she thought, and headed for the bus stop.

Published by
A
LGONQUIN
B
OOKS OF
C
HAPEL
H
ILL
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225

a division of
Workman Publishing
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014

© 2002 by Jim Grimsley. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person is intended or should be inferred.

ISBN 978-1-56512-711-1

A
LSO BY
J
IM
G
RIMSLEY

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