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'" Wireman's imitation of the old man's...

10:28 AM, Wednesday, February 3, 2010 .. Link

'" Wireman's imitation of the old man's southern accent was eerily good, and I found myself for some reason thinking of the Walrus and the Carpenter again, walking up the beach with the little OystersThe only part of the poem I could remember clearly was the Carpenter telling them they'd had a pleasant run, but of course the Oysters couldn't answer, for they'd been eaten - every one "Do you want to hear this now?" Wireman asked "Have you got time to tell me now?" "SureAnnmarie's got the duty until seven, although as a matter of practical fact, we share it most daysWhy don't we walk up to the house? I've got a fileThere isn't much in it, but there's at least one picture that's worth looking atChris Shannington had it in a box of his father's thingsI walked up to the Casey Key Public Library with him and copied it "It's a picture of Heron's gucci backpack Roost "As it was back then, you mean?" 653 We had started to stroll back up the boardwalk, but Wireman stopped"No, amigo, you misunderstand I'm talking about the original Heron's RoostEl Palacio is the second Roost, built almost twentyfive years after the little girls drownedBy then, John Eastlake's ten or twenty million had grown to a hundred and fifty million or soWar Is Good Business, Invest Your Son "Vietnam protest movement, 1969," I said"Often seen in tandem with A Woman Needs a Man Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle "Good, amigo," Wireman saidHe waved a hand toward the riotous greenery that began just south of us"The first Heron's Roost was out there, back when the world was young and flappers said poop-oopie-doop I thought of Mary Ire, not just tiddly or squiffy but downright drunk, saying Just the one house, sitting up there and looking dior replica handbags like something you'd see on the Gracious Homes Tour in Charleston or Mobile "What happened to it?" I asked "So far as I know, nothing but time and decay," he said"When John Eastlake gave up on recovering 654 the bodies of his twins, he gave up on Duma Key, tooHe paid off most of the help, packed his traps, took the three daughters who remained to him, got in his Rolls-Royce - he really had one - and drove awayScott Fitzgerald never wrote, that's what Chris Shannington saidTold me Eastlake was never at peace until Elizabeth brought him back here "Do you think that's something Shannington actually knows, or just a story he's gotten used to hearing himself tell?" "Qui?n sabe?" Wireman saidHe stopped again and waved toward the southern end of Duma Key"No overgrowth back thenYou could see the original house from the mainland and vice-versaAnd so speedy bag louis vuitton far as I know, amigo, the house is still there Whatever's left of it He reached the kitchen door and looked at me, unsmiling"That would be something to paint, wouldn't it? A ghost-ship on dry land viii 655 He took me into the library with the suit of armor in the corner and the museum-quality weapons on the wallThere, on the table next to the telephone, was a folder marked JOHN EASTLAKE/HERON'S ROOSTIHe opened it and removed a photograph showing a house that bore an unmistakable similarity to the one we were in - the similarity, say, of first cousinsYet there was one basic difference between the two, and the similarities - the same basic footprint for both houses, I thought, and the same roof of bright orange Spanish tile - only underlined it The current Palacio hid from the world behind a high wall broken by only a single gate - cartier love there wasn't even a tradesman's entranceIt had a beautiful interior courtyard which few people other than Wireman, Annmarie, the pool girl, and the twice-weekly gardener ever saw; it was like the body of a beautiful woman hidden under a shapeless piece of clothing The first Heron's Roost was very differentLike Elizabeth's mansion in China Town, it featured half a dozen pillars and a broad, welcoming verandaIt had a wide drive sweeping boldly up to 656 it, splitting what looked like two acres of lawn Not a gravel drive, either, as Mary Ire had told me, but rosy crushed shellsThe original had invited the world inIts successor - El Palacio - told the world to stay the hell outIlse had seen that at once, and so had I, but that day we had been looking from the roadSince then my view had changed, and with good reason: I had gotten used to seeing it from the balenciaga bag b

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'" Wireman's imitation of the old man's...

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