Chapter 15 -- A Man In Overalls

had stayed away long enough...?? held back from turning the corner too soon...
yes, the black van was still there...

hold back at just the right angle so the blind horse and its carriage would block him from view
he did not want to be seen too soon and yes they were coming out with the body, arguing
as usual...

he did not want to be seen at all as they loaded the body, their proximity to him at the rear end
of the van possibly too near to seem casual they would soon be through...

the horse with carriage, clomping along slowly onto Broadbridge, still betwixt and at a 'natural'
angle...to their preoccupied eyes there would be no doubt that he was merely tending to the horse in the typical and expected manner...

the overalls felt natural enough, too, and why shouldn't they?


everything was as it should be...where it should be...

was he speaking out loud? the two men were already climbing into the doorless van had they
even glanced at him?? he did not know...

he began to panic as they started the engine, half sensing another vehicle pulling up behind
the carriage, on the cross street but blocked from his peripheral view, he dared not turn...

he felt penned in, did not want to be seen except as 'normal', as anyone would...


as the van pulled away, two more shocks: he spotted the man in the red shirt--still here,
there, across the street,what could possibly keep him here, had he overlooked something
himself?? But he was turning away...heading toward the fence...the vacant lot...


then, back in the street, where the van had pulled away, a yellow book glaring in the sunlight...
could scarcely take it in before the second shock of the black dog sitting on the curb...

but, yes, only 'Flagg', the island's mascot...

apparently finished with his cigar of the day...

and as man stood stock-still, unwilling to stride forth and claim the book for himself,
most aware of the limo (he could feel with the back of his neck) looming behind,

the dog, its mouth open to new games, plumped quickly into the street, nipped the paper
book and ran off with it in the general direction of the courthouse ruins.