These Dreams of You

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Viv calls, “Sheba, come eat,” but the girl doesn’t answer so everyone else eats. Zan remembers that the supposedly haunted railroad bridge used to freak out Parker and he suppresses the impulse to talk about devil rites and Indian ghosts, which ordinarily Parker would find entertaining. It would be like talking about tsunamis while driving Pacific Coast Highway. “Are you going to be all right here?” he says to the boy.

“What do you mean?” Parker says. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason.”

“Isn’t this bridge supposed to be haunted?”

“By the ghosts of Indians. It’s O.K., they’re on our side.”

“How do you know?”

“I promise you, they are.”

“How long are we staying?” the boy says.

“Not long. We’ll work out something soon, I promise.”

“You promise, you promise,” a bit scornfully. “Once you promised about the house, too.”

“I know I did,” Zan quietly replies. “And I did everything I could to keep the house and keep that promise. It doesn’t mean I won’t find a way to keep the next one.”

Parker nods. “O.K., Dad.”