She woke to a sound like a cat whine and then the house seemed to rock. It occurred to Louise that Warner Phillips was rocking the house with his lovemaking. Glass cracked then shattered. She thought she heard the voice of Mrs. Finger, shrill and distinct. Louise sat up. For one brief moment the house was very still. Then the hollow crack of gunfire numbed her ears. She grabbed a blanket around her shoulders and slipped out the porch door. Her heart throbbed at her throat. Her feet ached in the frosted grass. Every light in the house was on. Every light, even the kitchen lights, scorched the black morning. Louise ran to the front lawn and then she moved slowly to the window. She could see Mrs. Finger trembling with light, her hands fluttering at her face. Louise saw the deer rifle already propped against the door to Arliss’s room. She saw the white face of Arliss standing naked by her bed. And there was Warner Phillips bending over, ass blazing, as he fumbled to stuff his legs into his pants. The lights in the house across the street flipped on and then the house lights came on next door. If Louise could see them clearly she knew the neighbors could too. It was as if Mrs. Finger’s dream had come horribly true. They looked like a movie screen, a movie stuck in an ugly scene and Mrs. Finger, Arliss Hebert, and Warner Phillips were the bright stars.

Warner Phillips tumbled out the door still pulling on his pants. Louise could not hide from him. But he ran past her blind. And he kept on running. He leaped into his truck, and without shutting the door, he lurched down the road, leaving Arliss naked before her weeping mother, the neighbors looking on.

Louise kept her shoes on until the sun warmed the road. The sky was cloudless. She walked fast, looking behind her. She stepped off the road and hid in the bushes or lay down in the tall grass when she heard the high hollow sound of a car approaching. The morning fields steamed. She felt like running. Before Paradise she stepped into an apple orchard just off the road and ate so many apples her mouth puckered. And then she kept walking.

It was midafternoon when she came upon the willow place. She was tired and a lonesome feeling was settling in her chest. Baptiste was not in sight. She put her feet in the cold water and rested. She closed her eyes and smelled the warm autumn grass. The day would be short. She would follow the river.