Elatsoe: Chapters 11–16

Lenore nodded once, curtly.

"In this comparison," Ellie ventured, "Lenore is like sixth-sense reading glasses?"

There were few more serious blasphemies than a murderer stomping around the grave of his victim.

“You have invited me to witness something intimate," Chloe said.

“I volunteered my gift,” she said, looking pointedly at the camera, “but would not be here today without an explicit invitation and acceptance. That’s for the record.”

Chloe stood, crossed her arms, and treated Ellie to an affably exasperated smile.

Her face was inscrutably blank.

Fairy rings were fickle things.

They had to be the right size and shape (a perfect circle with a 5.16-foot diameter, the length of Fairy Queen Titania's hair), and be composed of mushrooms belonging to one of six specific fungus genera.

Ellie and Jay sat side-by-side, their elbows brushing each time Jay spoke. He was the kind of person who emphasized his words with expansive hand gestures.

Thus, as he described Trevor’s murder, he seemed to parry invisible foes.

Anyway, a truck could careen around the corner and hit us like a battering ram.

Jay covered his face with one hand and brushed away her compliment with the other, feigning modest embarrassment.

After a minute, she reported, “This place reeks of emotional highs and lows, but there's no sign of grievous physical pain."

“A paper map?" He sounded incredulous.

She wanted to give Aunt Bell ample time to process the metaphysical surroundings.

She walked around the car and inspected the roadside foliage. Up close, she could see a trail of crushed bushes and weeds.

“Don’t go too far!” Aunt Bell called, her voice taut with anxiety.

“Better than a bridge trestle, though,” Ellie said.

When she spoke again, her cadence was deeper and more youthful.

As Ellie returned to Lenore’s house, she tried to glean Trevor’s last moments by mulling over each sentence.

As Ellie returned to Lenore’s house, she tried to glean Trevor’s last moments by mulling over each sentence.

Few things were more personal than a smartphone, so it was probably interred with Trevor during his traditional burial.

It was linked to his social media accounts, his favorite music and podcasts, his high scores in Tetris and Pac Man, and myriad other stuff.

He stacked spheres on pyramids on cubes and laughed as the ramshackle tower collapsed.

It did not take Ellie long to notice the seven twenty-gallon bins, all labeled “Trevor," piled in the middle of the basement. They resembled a monolithic island.

“EMTs? Police?" Lenore laughed. It was a hollow, mirthless sound. “Who can we trust?"

Sometimes, when Ellie called for Kirby, she sensed a friendly, exuberant presence behind him.

As if the dogs of her ancestors heard her voice and recognized its timbre.

Therefore, although she held the typical US history textbook in contempt (none acknowledged her heroic six-great-grandmother or, for that matter, any Lipan Apache person), Ellie could regurgitate its contents by heart.

“Get off my car!” Vivian shouted, smacking the felt-coated roof. The interloper knocked twice in response.

He mouthed the word good and pulled back a fist, poised to break the glass with his bare knuckles.

JAY (11:12 P.M.) – How’d you like to be my date to a fancy party at ABE ALLERTON’S MANSION? We should crash the masquerade together.
JAY (11:13 P.M.) – Platonic date.
JAY (11:13 P.M.) – For investigation.
JAY (11:14 P.M.) – Also fun.

When it came to attracting electricity during a thunderstorm, there were ways to improve the odds. Fly an aluminum kite. Stand under a tall tree. Wave a metal pole at the tumultuous clouds.

Folks stood under trees every day, rain and shine, without becoming a conduit for a billion volts of electricity.

Ellie often resented the scholastic erasure of her six-great-grandmother and other Native people.

Kirby in tow, Ellie meandered through the neighborhood until she came upon the park.

Ellie hadn't brought the trilobite fossil, but she knew its shape and personality by heart. She called its hologram-dense body from the ether.

The trilobites were visible, audible, swarming entities.

Her voice had a weird, attenuated quality, like when she spoke underwater in a swimming pool.