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The Burn Palace

Page 45

by Stephen Dobyns


  “It’s not a trick. Anyway, I’m not talking about it.”

  “Why not?” asks Baldo. It’s almost time to return to class.

  “Because I said I’m not. So you be careful.”

  The table surface is spotted with crumbs, paper napkins, a dozen green peas, eight kernels of corn, two pickle slices, and four french fries. It’s not terrible; it’s just what’s found in a grade-school cafeteria. There are three different lunch periods at Bailey Elementary, and this is the last of them.

  Baldo continues to press Hercel about the trick; Tig also asks a question or two. Hercel stares at the surface of the table. He’s on the brink of getting really angry. A person watching closely might notice a few grains of sugar begin to move. Baldo says something about friends not having secrets from one another. There’s a bit of whine in his voice. A few crumbs and two peas begin to roll; a french fry nudges its way forward; a pickle slice turns over, then moves faster; the peas fairly hop—all move toward Baldo. When they reach the edge of the table, they pitch forward into his lap, like barrel riders over Niagara Falls.

  As the second pickle slice falls onto his jeans, Baldo at last notices. “Hey, I know what you’re doing! Cut that out!”

  ALSO BY STEPHEN DOBYNS

  POETRY

  Winter’s Journey

  Mystery, So Long

  The Porcupine’s Kisses

  Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides

  Common Carnage

  Velocities: New and Selected Poems, 1966–1992

  Body Traffic

  Cemetery Nights

  Black Dog, Red Dog

  The Balthus Poems

  Heat Death

  Griffon

  Concurring Beasts

  NONFICTION

  Next Word, Better Word: The Craft of Writing Poetry

  Best Words, Best Order

  STORIES

  Eating Naked

  NOVELS

  Boy in the Water

  Saratoga Strongbox

  The Church of Dead Girls

  Saratoga Fleshpot

  Saratoga Trifecta

  Saratoga Backtalk

  The Wrestler’s Cruel Study

  Saratoga Haunting

  After Shocks/Near Escapes

  Saratoga Hexameter

  The House on Alexandrine

  Saratoga Bestiary

  The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini

  A Boat off the Coast

  Saratoga Snapper

  Cold Dog Soup

  Saratoga Headhunter

  Dancer with One Leg

  Saratoga Swimmer

  Saratoga Longshot

  A Man of Little Evils

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT

  DEDICATION

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  EPILOGUE

 

 

 


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