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Back Low Country Save as PDF
Chapters (25)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. CHAPTER 1
  4. CHAPTER 2
  5. CHAPTER 3
  6. CHAPTER 4
  7. CHAPTER 5
  8. CHAPTER 6
  9. CHAPTER 7
  10. CHAPTER 8
  11. CHAPTER 9
  12. CHAPTER 10
  13. CHAPTER 11
  14. CHAPTER 12
  15. CHAPTER 13
  16. CHAPTER 14
  17. CHAPTER 15
  18. CHAPTER 16
  19. CHAPTER 17
  20. CHAPTER 18
  21. CHAPTER 19
  22. CHAPTER 20
  23. CHAPTER 21
  24. CHAPTER 22
  25. CHAPTER 23

“I ’preciate the thought, but no, I got to git home,” she said with determination. “I have people depending on me. ’Sides it ain’t all that far from here, only ’bout forty-five minutes this time a night. And don’t you worry ’bout Danny Ray having to drive me up there. My car’s parked over at his place.”

She stepped close and extended her hand as she looked up and swept my face with her eyes. I took her hand, and then as I put an arm around her shoulders, she leaned her face against my chest and gave me a firm hug. As she stepped back and looked up again I saw that her eyes were wet once more, but the smile was back on her face.

“I’ll do what I can, Joree. I don’t know what that will amount to, but I’ll do my best,” I said.

“You done plenty already,” she said in a soft voice as Danny led the way to the gangplank.

I stood at the rail and watched as Danny and Joree made their way up the ramp to the parking lot. I lifted a hand as the car pulled away and saw, through the mist that had begun to settle over the land, a fleeting view of Joree’s face, and the palm and fingers of the hand she had placed on the passenger window as a parting salute. Then the red taillights turned on to the street above and were rapidly swallowed by the quiet folds of the night.

I stood in thought for several seconds, looking at the empty street and listening for—I don’t know what. I turned to go below to my waiting bunk, but hesitated for a second at the companionway as my nose detected a shift in the breeze. A front’s coming through, I thought. I wonder what change it will bring. Then I descended the six steps to below, closed and locked the hatch behind me, and turned in for the night.

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT THE TRUTH is a fixed quantity, unchangeable and permanent, but I don’t think that is so. I think of it as something entirely mysterious and fragile. In my experience it is like the wind and the ocean currents, ever moving, swirling and dancing, now here and then somewhere else again. Try as we might to pin it down, it eludes us, floating and shifting shape, changing according to the viewpoint and position of the beholder. What is true to me may not be the same for you. And what you believe to be fact may be something else entirely to me, or another person.