Sunday, on a deserted stretch of the Esopus Creek, Larry will meet two novice fly-fisherwomen. One is thin and wears glasses; the other is stocky with a bright white smile. They are weekenders from Brooklyn. While Larry is showing the woman with glasses how to tie a Woolly Bugger, the other will take a can of Mace out of her L.L.Bean bait bag and spray him in the face. Larry will be blinded; the woman with glasses will loosen his waist waders and push him backward into the creek. His waders will fill with water and take him under. He will drown.
It happens.
Later, in Artemis, I will say to Cheryl, “You can go home now.”
Acknowledgments
First, heartfelt thanks to Sara Nelson, my editor at HarperCollins. Quite simply, she did what editors are supposed to do: she made the book better. Also, Jonathan Burnham at HarperCollins, who was always encouraging and accessible. Mary Gaule, for getting me through the stations of the text and Janet Rosenberg for her forensic eye where mine failed.
I had real assistance from writers and friends who read and improved successive drafts: Lily Anolik, Jessica Anya Blau, Deborah Blum, Constance Borde, Sheila Malovany, Bianca Roberts, Ruth Rogers, Ken Brown, David Freeman, Dale Herd, Patrick McGilligan, Dennis Roberts, and my son, Fred Elias, who kept me current in music, technology, and graphic novels. Any lapses in those areas are mine, not his.
I am in debt to Martine Bertea, my agent in Paris who started the ball rolling and brought it to the excellent Carla Briner of Editions du Masque. Finally, my London agent, Caroline Michel of Peters Fraser + Dunlop. My champion always. I am lucky to have her.
About the Author
Michael Elias is a screenwriter, novelist, and playwright. Screen credits include The Jerk, Envoyez les violons, and Lush Life. His first novel, The Last Conquistador, was published by Open Road Media. Paul Mazursky directed his play The Catskill Sonata. It was named one of the best plays of the year by Los Angeles Weekly. He lives in Los Angeles.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
you can go home now. Copyright © 2020 by Michael Elias. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
“The Beautiful American Word, Sure” by Delmore Schwartz, from Selected Poems, copyright ©1959 by Delmore Schwartz. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
first edition
Cover design by Caroline Johnson
Cover photograph © plainpicture/Jeff Spielman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition JUNE 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-295418-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-295416-9
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