View Cover
Behind closed eyes, Phil climbs the tree of his childhood, looks across to the far shore, the real world where he’s lived all these many years. Along the bank alligators bask in the sun. One of them smiles at him and slides into the shadows. He lets his mind drift south to Cecil’s wife in Vermont, a woman dead to her husband’s whereabouts —unless she’s lying fully conscious of the wreckage that is her life. From the woman’s bedside, Phil hears Vera drumming her nails on the sofa arm. “This is what he does,” she says to Cecil. “Even with things really looking up for a change, he sleeps. “Phil, Phil, are you with us? See what I mean? He’s lost in his dreams again. Even when he’s awake, he dreams. My god, the ideas he comes ups with for employment! An animal bed and breakfast, for Chrissake. All of them just...castles in the air.”