It was frightening to be in the woods at night. He thought of the white dog, though it hadn’t harmed him and Annie that time. As he got closer, he heard men’s voices, and just as he got to the base of the ridge, a shot rang out. His whole body went numb and limp and he lay breathing hard against the dirt. He could hear the river rushing below. As quietly as he could, his heart thumping around his insides like a bumblebee in a jar, he crawled up toward the plateau. The voices were louder, in strife now. Someone cussed. He heard it then: his brother screaming, like he screamed when you were trying to get him to do something he had no mind to. All at once Roh went quiet. Lew felt as if he were falling right off the earth. Terrible silence. A moan. Another cuss from someone. More shouting. He clutched the dirt, shaking. A shadow flung itself across the trees above him. A moment later, he saw a man he knew very well, and that man was holding his brother by one ankle, like a slaughtered chicken, Roh’s arms dangling down. He almost cried out as Sal—Sal Celli, Annie’s pop—swung his brother back and then flung him out into the river eighty feet below. White spots floated in front of his eyes, the cry he hadn’t made scalding his throat. All of a sudden he felt strangely heavy, warm and tired. He might even have fallen asleep. But he became aware at some stage that there were no more sounds. He rolled himself down the slope, and it took him a while to get up and start moving back through the woods, his limbs numb and trembling. He ran into his pop’s room and shook him awake.

“What is it?”

Lew started to cry and couldn’t catch his breath. “Roh.”

“What’s wrong?” His pop got up and ran into their bedroom, Lew following.

“Where’s your brother?”

“Sal killed him. Sal killed him.”

“What?” Kneeling down, he took hold of Lew’s elbows. “Where’s your brother?”

“Sal killed him. I went in the woods and there was a fire and Sal threw him in the river.”

“Sal? Was you having a nightmare? Where’s Roh?”

“He got out and he was on the bluffs and there was men there and Sal threw him in the river.”

He followed as his pop took the shotgun from the wall rack and returned to his own bedroom. Through the open door, Lew watched him step onto the window ledge and fetch a key from above the curtain rail. With this he opened his lockbox and took out some shells.

Lew moved away from the door as his pop came back out, loading the shotgun. After pulling on his boots and throwing a coat over his long johns, he said, “Take me to where you last saw him.”

They ran through the woods, his pop shouting Roh’s name, which terrified Lew in case the men were still nearby. On the bluff were the ashes of a recently put-out fire. A shattered bottle and some cigarette butts lay around.