As Good As Gone (9781616206000) (31 page)

He waits until he's inside and behind the wheel before inspecting his bandaged hand. In the dark, the fresh blood soaking through the bandage looks black, but the dark stain isn't any larger than a fifty-­cent piece, so the bleeding can't be very serious. Calvin makes of his left hand a clumsy claw to encircle the steering wheel. With the heel of his right hand, he maneuvers the gear shift, and he feels again a tug at his sutures and perhaps another gives way. If he were staying in Gladstone, he might look up that young doctor and tell him, Look here, you're going to have pull your stitches tighter and knot your thread more securely. You don't want your patients springing leaks.

But that lesson will have to be left to another patient. Calvin is as good as gone, escaping yet again from this house, this town, this world. He puts in the clutch, and lets the truck coast down the alley. Only when he's well away from his son's and Beverly Lodge's houses does he turn the key in the ignition and allow the engine to roar to life.

Ave atque vale
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, thanks to my wife, Susan. This book found its way to publication only because she continued to believe in it, even when my commitment wavered. Her faith was seconded by PJ Mark, my extraordinary agent, and I thank him for his kind honesty, intelligence, and friendship. I'm fortunate to work with Kathy Pories, an editor whose keen eye is matched only by her understanding heart. I thank her and Elisabeth Scharlatt, Ina Stern, Brunson Hoole, Craig Popelars, Lauren Moseley, Jude Grant, Emma Boyer, Brooke Csuka, Debra Linn, Anne Winslow, and everyone at Algonquin Books who worked to make this book better and to help it find an audience.

Raised in Bismarck, North Dakota, LARRY WATSON is the author of nine critically acclaimed books, including the bestselling
Montana 1948.
His fiction has been published internationally and has received numerous prizes and awards. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the
Los Angeles Times,
the
Washington Post,
the
Chicago Sun-Times,
the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel,
and other periodicals. He and his wife live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His website is
www.larry-watson.com
. (Author photo by Susan Watson.)

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Published by

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Post Office Box 2225

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-­2225

a division of

Workman Publishing

225 Varick Street

New York, New York 10014

© 2016 by Larry Watson.

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

eISBN 978-1-61620-600-0