Envious Moon Read Online Free

grew up with worked there in the summers. They were chambermaids at the inns. I knew a few guys who rode over to work construction. There were some farms and I had heard about work picking fruit but I didn’t know anyone who had done that.
    I peered through the darkness and now I saw the first lights from the houses high above the cliffs. The shoreline flattened a little bit here and I could see what looked like a beach. In the distance I heard voices and the steady bark of a dog.
    We made our way around the western coast of the small island. There were no other boats and in front of us the starlight shimmered a road through the ocean.
    â€œOver there,” Victor said, pointing ahead. I saw where the island started to bend inward. “That’s the cove.”
    â€œYou sure?”
    â€œPositive,” he said.
    I brought the boat in slowly. It was a small cove but the beach looked sandy. I steered toward it and when we started to bottom out I cut the engine. I climbed over the bow and stood in the surf in my boots and the water lapped against the hull of the skiff. I took the rope and pulled the boat closer and when it stopped moving, Victor clambered over the stern. We were on the island.
    I looked around. My eyes adjusted to the greater darkness that was the land at night. The cove in front of us was narrowand defined by rock outcroppings. Above there were small scrub trees that grew out of the cliff face and leaned over us.
    I said, “Where’s the house?”
    Victor pointed to the right. “Up there. Through the trees.”
    â€œHow do we get there?”
    â€œAhead,” he said. “See? There’s a path. It runs up that cliff and kicks out behind the house.”
    I saw where he pointed. A break between trees. I took a deep breath. “All right,” I said.
    â€œTony?”
    â€œI know, Vic,” I said.
    â€œThere’s not going to be anyone up there.”
    â€œWe should go,” I said.
    â€œOkay,” said Victor, and we left the boat and moved toward the trees.
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    W e found the path and it was a well-worn trail of packed dirt. On either side of us were small trees and dense undergrowth. The trail itself was narrow. We walked slowly. We didn’t want to trip over something we couldn’t see. My eyes grew more accustomed to the dark and we went a little quicker. Now and again we stopped and stood next to each other breathing heavily and we listened but there was only the sound of our breathing and the light surf against the beach below.
    â€œNot much farther,” Victor said.
    Soon the trees on our right thinned and then they fell away completely. I could see the end of the cove and the ocean, though I couldn’t see the boat since it was right underneath us. We followed several switchbacks and I got a sense of altitude. I looked to my right and saw the light at Montauk. It was a familiar sight and it comforted me to see it. The land started to level and in front of us the path widened. The trees on either side of us were larger now that we were away from the cliff but in the dark we could not tell what kind they were. The path was wide enough for several people to walk side by side now. In front of us I saw the stars in the sky and when we walked through a smallstand of trees we found ourselves on a large lawn and then there was the house, several hundred yards away.
    We stopped. The house was massive, huge and black against the expanse of sky. We were looking at the back of it. I sank to one knee, and Victor followed. I felt the grass wet on my jeans.
    â€œThe front door is on the other side,” Victor whispered.
    â€œNo lights on,” I whispered back.
    Three chimneys rose off the roof and high into the sky. The large turret, the one I had seen from sea, was on the ocean side. We kneeled there for what seemed like a long time. Finally I said, “Stay here.”
    â€œYou sure?” Victor said, and he sounded relieved. The