Mystic River
DENNIS LEHANE
MYSTIC RIVER
For my wife, Sheila
[He] did not understand women. It wasn’t the way bartenders or comedians didn’t understand women, it was the way poor people didn’t understand the economy. You could stand outside the Girard Bank Building every day of your life and never guess anything about what went on in there. That’s why, in their hearts, they’d always rather stick up a 7-Eleven.
—Pete Dexter, God’s Pocket
There is no street with mute stones and no house without echoes.
—Góngora
a cognizant original v5 release november 04 2010
CONTENTS
EPIGRAPH
I THE BOYS WHO ESCAPED FROM WOLVES: (1975)
1 THE POINT AND THE FLATS
2 FOUR DAYS
II SAD-EYED SINATRAS: (2000)
3 TEARS IN HER HAIR
4 DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE
5 ORANGE CURTAINS
6 BECAUSE IT’S BROKEN
7 IN THE BLOOD
8 OLD MACDONALD
9 FROGMEN IN THE PEN
10 EVIDENCE
11 RED RAIN
12 THE COLORS OF YOU
13 LIGHTS
14 AIN’T EVER GOING TO FEEL THAT AGAIN
III ANGELS OF THE SILENCES
15 A PERFECT GUY
16 GOOD TO SEE YOU, TOO
17 A LITTLE LOOK
18 WORDS HE ONCE KNEW
19 WHO THEY’D PLANNED TO BE
20 WHEN SHE COMES HOME
21 GOBLINS
IV GENTRIFICATION
22 THE HUNTING FISH
23 LITTLE VINCE
24 A BANISHED TRIBE
25 TRUNK BOY
26 LOST IN SPACE
27 WHO DO YOU LOVE?
EPILOGUE JIMMY FLATS: SUNDAY
28 WE’LL SAVE YOU A PLACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PRAISE
OTHER BOOKS BY DENNIS LEHANE
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
I
THE BOYS WHO ESCAPED FROM WOLVES
(1975)
1
THE POINT AND THE FLATS
WHEN SEAN DEVINE and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant and carried the stench of warm chocolate back home with them. It became a permanent character of their clothes, the beds they slept in, the vinyl backs of their car seats. Sean’s kitchen smelled like a Fudgsicle, his bathroom like a Coleman Chew-Chew bar. By the time they were eleven, Sean and Jimmy had developed a hatred of sweets so total that they took their
MYSTIC RIVER
For my wife, Sheila
[He] did not understand women. It wasn’t the way bartenders or comedians didn’t understand women, it was the way poor people didn’t understand the economy. You could stand outside the Girard Bank Building every day of your life and never guess anything about what went on in there. That’s why, in their hearts, they’d always rather stick up a 7-Eleven.
—Pete Dexter, God’s Pocket
There is no street with mute stones and no house without echoes.
—Góngora
a cognizant original v5 release november 04 2010
CONTENTS
EPIGRAPH
I THE BOYS WHO ESCAPED FROM WOLVES: (1975)
1 THE POINT AND THE FLATS
2 FOUR DAYS
II SAD-EYED SINATRAS: (2000)
3 TEARS IN HER HAIR
4 DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE
5 ORANGE CURTAINS
6 BECAUSE IT’S BROKEN
7 IN THE BLOOD
8 OLD MACDONALD
9 FROGMEN IN THE PEN
10 EVIDENCE
11 RED RAIN
12 THE COLORS OF YOU
13 LIGHTS
14 AIN’T EVER GOING TO FEEL THAT AGAIN
III ANGELS OF THE SILENCES
15 A PERFECT GUY
16 GOOD TO SEE YOU, TOO
17 A LITTLE LOOK
18 WORDS HE ONCE KNEW
19 WHO THEY’D PLANNED TO BE
20 WHEN SHE COMES HOME
21 GOBLINS
IV GENTRIFICATION
22 THE HUNTING FISH
23 LITTLE VINCE
24 A BANISHED TRIBE
25 TRUNK BOY
26 LOST IN SPACE
27 WHO DO YOU LOVE?
EPILOGUE JIMMY FLATS: SUNDAY
28 WE’LL SAVE YOU A PLACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PRAISE
OTHER BOOKS BY DENNIS LEHANE
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
I
THE BOYS WHO ESCAPED FROM WOLVES
(1975)
1
THE POINT AND THE FLATS
WHEN SEAN DEVINE and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant and carried the stench of warm chocolate back home with them. It became a permanent character of their clothes, the beds they slept in, the vinyl backs of their car seats. Sean’s kitchen smelled like a Fudgsicle, his bathroom like a Coleman Chew-Chew bar. By the time they were eleven, Sean and Jimmy had developed a hatred of sweets so total that they took their