“Pa said I’d held out longer waitin’ for you than a dog staring at a cookie jar. But he made me put on a clean pair of undershorts that night of First Fall. Well, kinda clean. I only wore them inside out once before then. And you know what he said?”

Peter shook his head.

“He said, Coop, a patient fisher always gets the bigger catch.”

Peter’s stomach turned, startled that Bud would ever have regarded him as anything other than a liability, let alone a catch. “Did you hear what I just said?”

“I got to thinkin’.”

“Cooper, did you hear—”

“My brain lost count of the times I used to canoe past your island, tryin’ to rummage up the courage to come talk to you. I’d only get so close and my nerves would just about quit on me. I was out on the lake one day, right near the bottom by your place. We was probably only about fourteen or somethin’ but I remember how clear the water was that day cos I could see minnows swimmin’ in the fizz my paddle made through the water. The water was so clear I remember seeing the shadow of the canoe passing over the shingle below, too. And then I saw something that weren’t no shadow. A great white sturgeon, Pete. Hell, it was the biggest darned thing I ever did saw. It had whiskers longer than bootlaces and spines on its back like some dinosaur. A real fifteen-footer. And you were back on the island somewhere you wouldn’t even have noticed it and it made such a splash when its tail smacked the water, the canoe just about rocked over on to its side like a toy in a tin bath. And … and, I dunno. I just wished I coulda shown it you, is all.”

Cooper scratched his pit and stood there staring at the missing carpet tile and nothing more came out of him.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

Cooper shrugged. “The ravine.”

“What about it?”

“I don’t want you to think of me like that, when you think of me.”

“Think of you like what?”

“Dunno. Talking with the Dead. Not lookin’ at you right.” Then, “Bein’ secretive.”

“Then help me not to.”

Cooper’s dark eyes glared from behind the ropes of his matted hair.

“Their questions won’t go away, Cooper.”

“And what about yours?”

Peter stood. “What’s Timberdark? Where did you even get to hear that word?”

“I said it int for you. That should be enough.”

“And I’m begging you and that should be enough.”

Cooper’s chest heaved, seemingly inhaling every bit of fury coursing through his blood and bones rather than have it pile on to Peter. But he wouldn’t budge. “Is this gonna split us?”

“I don’t know any more.”