Page 28 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Marc Erdrich

Harry was considering the nature of fear when he thought
he saw movement in the woods off to the right of where Tissie

and his wife were looking for deer. He leaned forward to ask
his wife for the binoculars, nearly falling off the bench as he
did. She handed them to him and the platform swayed once
more.

How long has this, uh...the high seat...uh, been here?” Har-
ry asked Tissie, trying not to sound anxious. Turning to face
her for the first time, he noticed, out of the corner of one eye,
that the platform was supported at its corners by nothing more
than wires tied in a figure eight around the tree and the frame
of the platform.

“Let me see,” Tissie said, thinking aloud. “It was after Ed-
ward died. I think that’s when it was. When would that have
been? Sixty-eight? Would it have been around sixty-eight?” she

asked, turning again to Harry’s wife, as if she knew the answer.
“Yes, I think so,” she said, not waiting for a reply. “Sixty-eight.”
“My God,” she said, blowing air again. “Has it been that

long? What year is this?” she asked, this time directing her
question to the trees.

“Eighty-seven,” Harry’s wife said, trying not to laugh. It
was hard to be serious with Tissie.

“Well, it was built a few years after Edward died,” Tissie
said, turning to Harry. “I think it was in seventy.”

Harry did a quick calculation, gauging the age of the de-
caying timbers.

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