Telephone
Chapters (15)
Cover
TELEPHONE
Also by Percival Everett
So Much Blue
Half an Inch of Water
Percival Everett by Virgil Russell
Assumption
I Am Not Sidney Poitier
The Water Cure
Wounded
American Desert
A History of the African-American People [Proposed] by Strom Thurmond as Told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid
Damned If I Do
Grand Canyon, Inc.
Erasure
Glyph
Frenzy
Watershed
Big Picture
The Body of Martin Aguilera
God’s Country
For Her Dark Skin
Zulus
The Weather and Women Treat Me Fair
Cutting Lisa
Walk Me to the Distance
Suder
The One That Got Away
re: (f) gesture
Abstraktion and Einfülu0ng
Swimming Swimmers Swimming
Trout’s Lie
TELEPHONE
A Novel
Percival Everett
Graywolf Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Percival Everett
The author and Graywolf Press have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify Graywolf Press at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.
“Lydia the Tattooed Lady.” Words by E. Y. Harburg. Music by Harold Arlen. Copyright © 1939 (Renewed) EMI Feist Catalog Inc. Exclusive print rights administered by Alfred Music. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Music.
Many thanks to the Creative Capital Foundation for support during the making of this book.
This publication is made possible, in part, by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Significant support has also been provided by Target, the McKnight Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the Amazon Literary Partnership, and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. To these organizations and individuals we offer our heartfelt thanks.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Published by Graywolf Press
250 Third Avenue North, Suite 600
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401
Published in the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-64445-022-2
Ebook ISBN 978-1-64445-120-5
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 C
First Graywolf Printing, 2020
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019948742
Cover design: Kapo Ng
Cover art: Anastasiia New / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Dedication
For my sons
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations—one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it—you will regret both.
Søren Kierkegaard