All the Colors of the Dark — Chapter 129

129

He woke in a cold sweat, cried out into the darkness as she told him to paint

her.

That she was standing on a north shore.

He reached for the telephone and dialed.

Patch tried to slow his breathing as he waited for her machine.

“Hello.”

He stared at the receiver, knew the voice on the other end so well, yet still, for a moment he was too ashamed to speak.

“Joseph?”

“Hello, Norma.”

He heard her sigh, imagined her sitting awake while the town slept around her. He could still picture her face so clearly, her smile, and, more

often, her frown.

“Please, Joseph. Give yourself up.”

“I can’t,” he said, and knew that she would hear the pain in his voice.

“You’re a good boy.” And he heard the pain in hers.

“I wanted you to…”

“Tell me, Joseph. What did you want?”

He swallowed. “I wanted you to be my family. You and Saint. I wanted —”

“It’s not too late for you. You come back and I’ll take you for ice cream

at Lacey’s Diner.”

He smiled. “I miss you both.”

“You’re breaking my granddaughter’s heart.”

His voice caught. He wound the telephone cord around his finger, blinked back his tears, and tried and failed to answer a statement he knew to

be true.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You have to let her go now, Joseph. Saint doesn’t need you anymore.”

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