“T-Bub,” his grand-père said, “you somethin’ else. ‘Read the book.’ Hot damn.” They sat for a long time, passing the cup back and forth, Paul watching the morning’s clouds rise above his coming labor.

*   *   *

After she took Matthew to school and Jennifer to Miss Guidry’s day care, Colette drove to the bank, which had finally rehired her, this time in a better position than her last. She stepped into her cypress-paneled office upstairs, its window showing a wide view of the eddying Chieftan. She sat at her desk, glancing at a picture of her father and mother, loves she had escaped in spite of her best self. A loan application was on her desk. Antoine Templet wanted a new engine for his lugger. This was Antoine senior, not his lazy son. This was the old man who wore out boats instead of letting boats wear him out. She wrote on the forms, lettering in the voids until she heard a noise like steady thunder and looked through the window to see the Sunset Limited, off schedule, rattling back from California. It trundled over the railroad bridge and blew for the station, its whistle still exotic and inviting. For a long time she stared with her quick dark eyes at where the train had come from, at the blue-black rails that trailed off to the west. Then she looked down at the iron roofs of Tiger Island. Some were storm-worn and bent, some eroded and rusty, porous as a ruined soul, and some were scraped clean and gleaming with new silver paint.

Also by Tim Gautreaux

Also by Tim Gautreaux

Same Place, Same Things

Praise

“Gautreaux is a marvelous writer, often poetic. He is, most important, a superb storyteller capable of sketching characters so thoroughly, you feel as though you could sit down tomorrow to a cup of coffee with any one of them.”

—St. Petersburg Times

“As a storyteller, and especially as one with such a good eye for character, Gautreaux looks like one of the best writers to have emerged in the 1990s.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Entertaining … Gautreaux has a great ear for the language spoken in South Louisiana.”

—Tampa Tribune-Times

“Powerful … the novel’s triumph is its sense of community—unforgettable characters in a setting that is at once familiar and exotic.”

—Booklist

“He has a knack for characters who stick to your ribs, people who you care about.”

—Jef Leisgang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Just when you think the soul of good southern writing has faded away into the cultural homogeneity of Blockbusters and McDonald’s, along comes someone to renew your faith.… Gautreaux’s scenes and descriptions are vivid, tangible, and fraught with meaning.… Gautreaux is the kind of unpretentious, thoughtful novelist we need right now.… The future of Southern writing is in good hands.”

—James Busbee, The Memphis Flyer