way his pupils widened under her scrutiny. For a moment, his features seemed to go blurry, as though Eureka were seeing him underwater. It occurred to her that if she were asked to describe the boy tomorrow, she might not remember his face. She rubbed her eyes. Stupid tears.
When she looked at him again, his features were focused, sharp. Nice features. Nothing wrong with them. Still … the tear. She didn’t do that. What had come over her?
“My name’s Ander.” He stuck out his hand politely, as though a moment ago he hadn’t intimately wiped her eye, as though he hadn’t just done the strangest, sexiest thing anyone had ever done.
“Eureka.” She shook his hand. Was her palm sweating or was his?
“Where’d you get a name like that?”
People around here assumed Eureka was named for the tiny town in far north Louisiana. They probably thought her parents snuck up there one summer weekend in her dad’s old Continental, stopped for the night when they got low on gas. She’d never told anyone but Brooks and Cat the real story. It was hard to convince people that things happened outside of what they knew.
The truth was, when Eureka’s teenaged mother gotknocked up, she boogied out of Louisiana quick. She drove west in the middle of the night, outrageously violating all of her parents’ strict rules, and ended up in a hippie co-op near Lake Shasta, California, which Dad still referred to as “the vortex.”
But I came back, didn’t I?
Diana had laughed when she was young and still in love with Dad.
I always come back
.
On Eureka’s eighth birthday, Diana took her out there. They’d spent a few days with her mother’s old friends at the co-op, playing spades and drinking cloudy unfiltered apple cider. Then, when both of them got to feeling landlocked—which happened fast with Cajuns—they drove out to the coast and ate oysters that were briny and cold, with bits of ice clinging to their shells, just like the ones bayou kids were raised on. On their way home, Diana took the Oceanside highway to the city of Eureka, pointing out the roadside clinic where Eureka had been born, eight years earlier, on leap day.
But Eureka didn’t talk about Diana with just anyone, because most people didn’t grasp the complex miracle that was her mother, and struggling to defend Diana was painful. So Eureka kept it all inside, walled herself off from worlds and people like this boy. “Ander’s not a name you hear every day.”
His eyes dropped and they listened to a train heading west. “Family name.”
“Who are your people?” She knew she sounded like all the other Cajuns who thought the sun rose and set on theirbayou. Eureka didn’t think that, never had, but there was something about this kid that made him seem like he’d appeared spontaneously next to the sugarcane. Part of Eureka found that exciting. Another part—the part that wanted her car repaired—was uneasy.
Car wheels on the gravel road behind them made Eureka turn her head. When she saw the rusty tow truck jerk to a stop behind her, she groaned. Through the bug-splattered windshield, she could barely see the driver, but all of New Iberia recognized Cory Statutory’s truck.
Not everyone called him that—just females aged thirteen to fifty-five, almost all of whom had contended with his roving eyes or hands. When he wasn’t towing cars or hitting on underage or married women, Cory Marais was in the swamp: fishing, crabbing, tossing beer cans, absorbing the marsh’s reptilian putrescence into the crags of his sunburnt skin. He wasn’t old but he looked ancient, which made his advances even creepier.
“Y’all need a tow?” He leaned an elbow out the window of his cloud-gray truck. A wad of chewing tobacco sat lodged in his cheek.
Eureka hadn’t thought to call a tow truck—probably because Cory’s was the only one in town. She didn’t understand how he’d found them. They were on a side road hardly anybody drove on. “Are you
When she looked at him again, his features were focused, sharp. Nice features. Nothing wrong with them. Still … the tear. She didn’t do that. What had come over her?
“My name’s Ander.” He stuck out his hand politely, as though a moment ago he hadn’t intimately wiped her eye, as though he hadn’t just done the strangest, sexiest thing anyone had ever done.
“Eureka.” She shook his hand. Was her palm sweating or was his?
“Where’d you get a name like that?”
People around here assumed Eureka was named for the tiny town in far north Louisiana. They probably thought her parents snuck up there one summer weekend in her dad’s old Continental, stopped for the night when they got low on gas. She’d never told anyone but Brooks and Cat the real story. It was hard to convince people that things happened outside of what they knew.
The truth was, when Eureka’s teenaged mother gotknocked up, she boogied out of Louisiana quick. She drove west in the middle of the night, outrageously violating all of her parents’ strict rules, and ended up in a hippie co-op near Lake Shasta, California, which Dad still referred to as “the vortex.”
But I came back, didn’t I?
Diana had laughed when she was young and still in love with Dad.
I always come back
.
On Eureka’s eighth birthday, Diana took her out there. They’d spent a few days with her mother’s old friends at the co-op, playing spades and drinking cloudy unfiltered apple cider. Then, when both of them got to feeling landlocked—which happened fast with Cajuns—they drove out to the coast and ate oysters that were briny and cold, with bits of ice clinging to their shells, just like the ones bayou kids were raised on. On their way home, Diana took the Oceanside highway to the city of Eureka, pointing out the roadside clinic where Eureka had been born, eight years earlier, on leap day.
But Eureka didn’t talk about Diana with just anyone, because most people didn’t grasp the complex miracle that was her mother, and struggling to defend Diana was painful. So Eureka kept it all inside, walled herself off from worlds and people like this boy. “Ander’s not a name you hear every day.”
His eyes dropped and they listened to a train heading west. “Family name.”
“Who are your people?” She knew she sounded like all the other Cajuns who thought the sun rose and set on theirbayou. Eureka didn’t think that, never had, but there was something about this kid that made him seem like he’d appeared spontaneously next to the sugarcane. Part of Eureka found that exciting. Another part—the part that wanted her car repaired—was uneasy.
Car wheels on the gravel road behind them made Eureka turn her head. When she saw the rusty tow truck jerk to a stop behind her, she groaned. Through the bug-splattered windshield, she could barely see the driver, but all of New Iberia recognized Cory Statutory’s truck.
Not everyone called him that—just females aged thirteen to fifty-five, almost all of whom had contended with his roving eyes or hands. When he wasn’t towing cars or hitting on underage or married women, Cory Marais was in the swamp: fishing, crabbing, tossing beer cans, absorbing the marsh’s reptilian putrescence into the crags of his sunburnt skin. He wasn’t old but he looked ancient, which made his advances even creepier.
“Y’all need a tow?” He leaned an elbow out the window of his cloud-gray truck. A wad of chewing tobacco sat lodged in his cheek.
Eureka hadn’t thought to call a tow truck—probably because Cory’s was the only one in town. She didn’t understand how he’d found them. They were on a side road hardly anybody drove on. “Are you
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