Pool_2

>> Safe House <<

There were diverting wisps of homey conversation. What will you do now? Nora's charities. John's Irish culture projects. How will they be affected? Nora's son, young Marcus, had just taken Frank's last name. He was now legally Marcus Sumner. "Shannon, you should have seen him when those papers were finalized. He was soooo proud of having a real name! He's a good boy... And smart! ...." Frank sounded like a proud father. But he paused with a dreamy philosophic look peering through his mask of stiff skin. "And?" "Ver-ry intuitive. He doesn't need inventories of facts to know what's what. Great kid." Shannon told Frank about her niece Taillte .. "That's a name? Where do you dig up.." ..who was a natural dancer. While all the other kids practiced for hours, she merely had to watch. It didn't make her too popular winning all the prizes with the least effort. She didn't learn dancing, she released it. Frank and Shannon continued babbling on in this way until they passed northward over the crest of South Mountain, then down into and through a timeworn city whose glory had long passed. Conversation stilled as the town eased by. Something about this place. They both felt it. Not architecture, even with its period feel. Upswing visible. Store fronts, new paint . Scaffolds, repair, well stocked fruit stands, vegetables . Bright sales signs. No, not the physical. Something else. Children turned away. Children spun by knowing parents pointing into storefront windows - away from the street - as their bullet ridden car lingered by to oddly