BooksBarbecue
Back Southernmost Save as PDF
Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Also by Silas House
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. Part Two
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. Part Three
  38. 1
  39. 2
  40. 3
  41. 4
  42. 5
  43. 6
  44. 7
  45. 8
  46. 9
  47. 10
  48. 11
  49. 12
  50. 13
  51. 14
  52. 15
  53. 16
  54. 17
  55. 18
  56. 19
  57. 20
  58. 21
  59. 22
  60. 23
  61. 24
  62. 25
  63. 26
  64. 27
  65. 28
  66. 29
  67. 30
  68. 31
  69. Part Four
  70. 1
  71. 2
  72. 3
  73. Epilogue: The Everything
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. About Algonquin
  77. Copyright

“Olivia Bougainvillea Iguana,” Justin whispers in the back seat, Asher hearing him clearly while he thinks

Good-bye Good-bye Good-bye

Olivia Olivia Olivia

Good-bye, sweet Evona, dearest dear

and the tires are carrying them away. Asher watches through the rearview mirror as Justin turns in his seat to see Evona standing in the street, watching them, waving, waving and then Evona isn’t waving anymore. She drops her arm and stands watching until she becomes so small Asher can’t see her anymore although he is seeing her face in his mind and she is not crying, she just looks determined. She looks like she’s saying a prayer with her determination and nothing else.

Asher turns left at the graveyard, then left again, and right, and right, and they’re on Roosevelt and the ocean is on their right side. All those people out on the beach, setting up umbrellas and volleyball nets and spreading out their towels and blankets. And he loves every one of them.

Good-bye Key West, goodbye.

Part Four

Part Four

The Last Days

1

1

Up through the South in the dying breaths of summer.

Justin and Shady in the back seat. At least Luke is with Asher now. Helping him drive. Helping him to do this hardest thing of his life. And for miles and miles and miles there are:

Cotton fields.

Soybean fields.

Tobacco fields.

Cornfields.

On the radio: country music (steel guitars, cheaters, drinkers) and Holiness preachers (the blood of Jay-sus! Rapture! Abomination!).

Gas stations. Trucks stops. Cinder-block restaurants.

Thousands of churches.

A legion of church signs:

you think it’s hot out here? hell will be worse

read the bible. it will scare the hell out of you

gay is not okay

Dogs in yards, on porches, on chains, running free near the side of the road.

Tractors crossing wide pastures.

Eighteen-wheelers and police cruisers and school buses.

Evona has given them some Joni Mitchell CDs but Asher can’t stand to listen to them. They remind him too much of Bell, and of Key West, period.

Oh, Florida.

They drive all the way to Valdosta. Nine hours split between Asher and Luke. They collapse into the scratchy sheets of motel beds near the interstate, exhausted from driving, from grief, from fear.

Georgia.

And finally, Tennessee.

Bugs stick on the windshield. The wind whips in when Asher takes off the top. Luke sings along to Peter Paul and Mary’s “Early in the Morning.” Justin watches the trees, his eyes glazed over with sadness so that Asher can almost read his mind. Shady sits in the back seat, watching the road with his whitish-blue eyes, so good, such a peaceful presence traveling with them, like God resting his hand over their Jeep as they head into the unknown.

2

2