The Long-Shining Waters Read Online Free

Spring.” Nora knocks a cigarette from her pack, and a lighter appears in front of her. “Thanks,” she says to Deets, who seems fully recovered.
    “Wouldn’t spring in Ireland smell like sheep shit?” he says.
    Nora lets out a smoke-choked laugh.
    “Aye, lassie.” He feigns a thick brogue and leans toward Rose. “Ya smell as ripe as my field boots, ya do.”
    It’s Nora’s big laugh this time, coming right from the gut. “What do they have now, comedy majors at the college?”
    That one gets a cackle out of Rose.
    “I don’t know. I’ve been out for ages.”
    Nora is a bit surprised. She’s usually on the money with people’s age. “What are you doing still in town?”
    “I’m not. I just moved here. I came for the lake.” He flashes her a knowing smile.
    “The lake?” Nora wets a rag in the sink. “You moved here for the lake?”
    “I’ve always wanted to live here. My uncle has a cabin on the Canadian border. I used to spend half the summer up there. You know, hunting for agates, scouting for boats. Oh man, the night sky on that beach. The black sea of stars. That’s what my uncle calls it. It felt more like home than my real home.”
    “That lake’s an ass-cracker,” Rose says into her lowball.
    “I can’t explain it, but I’ve always known I’d live here. I might learn to dive and try timber retrieval. There’s wood on the bottom from the logging days.”
    “Old-growth trees.” Rose sips her drink. “I saw it on TV. Rich people want the wood for building, and people who make instruments, too. I wonder how an old-growth piano would sound.”
    “My real dream is to work on a freighter. But I have to find out what it takes to do it.”
    “I can tell you what it takes to work the ships.” Nora points to the pool table. “Either balls bigger than those, or else a very small brain. Don’t you know people die out there? You’ve got half an hour in that water if you’re lucky.”
    “I’m a good swimmer.”
    “It’s not about swimming. It’s about hypothermia. Why not live somewhere warm, like California? I’ve got a sister out there, and it’s all palm trees and sunshine. When I talked to her this morning she was drinking coffee on her patio. Really.” Nora wipes the bar. “If I were your age I’d turn tail and head west.”
    “I recall your tail turning plenty at his age.” Rose stubs out her cigarette.
    “Don’t you believe a word she says.”
    “How about that infamous night down at Tony’s?”
    “All right. Fine. You two can reminisce. I’ve got work to do.”
    Nora gathers empties from the floor, stopping to chat with Ed and his crew, who are occupying the long table in front, then cleaning the mess left by Jimmy D., who can’t drink a bottle of beer without peeling off the label bit by bit and rolling the paper into little balls. She sets the empties on the bar. She likes to get to them early on, before the beery film dries inside.
    “Schooner.” Nora has the phone on her shoulder while she scrubs a pair of glasses on the brushes.
    “Listen, don’t get mad, okay? I know we’re supposed to come down on Friday, but it looks like it’s not going to work out.”
    Nora dunks the glasses into the rinse tub, then sets them on the drying rack.
    “Mom?”
    “Janelle, I already did the shopping. And I promised Nikki a trip to the bowling alley.”
    “Yeah, she told me about it. Do they have special times that are kid-appropriate?”
    “It’s bowling. There aren’t any special times, except during leagues.” The silence on the other end of the line is loud. “Is there a problem with bowling?”
    “It’s just not going to work, Mom. We’ve got a lot going on. It’ll be better for everyone if we make it another time.”
    “Well, that depends how you define everyone. ” Nora puts two more glasses on the brushes. She had a feeling this was going to happen again. “Where’s my Bun? Does she like her purple rabbit?”
    “Nikki loves everything that comes