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snakes. They kind of coil and partially uncoil and this motion propels them. I read about it in a nature magazine. You know how a concertina or accordion takes in and lets out air when it’s being played? Well, this type of snake looks like that.”
    “Snakes can see where they’re going, can’t they?”
    “Sure, and they use their tongues as sensors.”
    “The car’s headlights are kind of our sensors.”
    “I also read that blind people use hand gestures when they talk, the same as people who can see. Isn’t that interesting? It has something to do with the way human beings think.”
    “I think Texas goes on forever.”
    “We just take it a little bit at a time,”
    “Like concertina locomotion.”
    “Yes, baby. As soon as we’re east of Houston we’ll get a whiff of the bayou. You’ll know when we’re there with your eyes closed/’

Imagine
    R OY, DO YOU REMEMBER the name of that man in Havana who used to give you a silver dollar whenever he saw you?”
    “Sure, Winky. He had two tattoos of a naked girl on his arm.”
    “Winky Nervo, that’s right. It was driving me nuts not being able to remember his name, Winky was in a dream I had last night. What do you mean, he had two tattoos of a naked girl? The same girl?”
    “I think so. On one side of the muscle part of his right arm he had the front of the girl and on the underneath was the back of hen She had her hands on her hips the same way in both of the tattoos. I liked Winky a lot. He used to give silver dollars to all the kids.”
    “For some reason, Winky was in my dream. He was talking to a black woman outside of a restaurant or a bar or a nightclub somewhere, maybe in Havana, though it could have been Mexico City. There was a red and yellow sign flashing on and off behind them. The woman’s dress was bright blue, and Winky stood very close to hen Under her, almost. You know how little Winky was, and the woman was very black and much taller. She leaned over him like a coconut palm. I liked Winky, too. Your dad said he was a terrible gambler, threw everything he had away on craps and the horses.”
    “Why don’t we ever see Winky anymore, Mom?”
    “Oh, baby, Winky’s someplace nobody can find him. He owed a pile of dough to some wrong guys and couldn’t pay it back.”
    “Maybe he’s in the old country. Winky always said how when he got set he would go back to the old country and not do anything but eat and drink and forget.”
    “Honey, Winky’s in a country even older than the one he was talking about.”
    “Maybe he was showing the woman his tattoos. Winky could make the girl’s titties jump when he made a muscle.”
    “Remind me to call your dad tonight when we get to Tampa. You haven’t spoken to him for a while.”
    “Not since my birthday. Mom?”
    “Yes, Roy?”
    “Winky always had lots of silver dollars in his pockets.”
    “That doesn’t mean he had money, baby. Not real money, anyway.”
    “Does Dad have real money?”
    “He might not have it, but he knows how to find it and where to get it, and that’s almost as good. There’s a big difference between your father and a man like Winky Nervo. Don’t worry about your dad.”
    “I won’t.”
    “Winky wasn’t sharp, Roy. He didn’t think ahead.”
    “It’s important huh? To think ahead.”
    “Baby, you can’t imagine.”

The Geography of Heaven
    D O YOU REALIZE, ROY , that Cairo, Illinois, where we are now, is actually closer to the state of Mississippi than it is to Chicago?”
    “I know we’re next to the Mississippi River.”
    “That’s right. We were on the Mississippi in St. Louis, Missouri, and now Cairo. From here it flows down to Memphis. What state is Memphis in, baby?”
    “Tennessee.”
    “Good. Then it goes to Greenville—”
    “Mississippi.”
    “Then to New Orleans—”
    “Louisiana.”
    “Before flowing into—”
    “The Gulf of Mexico.”
    “Great, Roy! You really know your geography.”
    “I think this is the best way to