Wade in the Water
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
We enter a windowless hallway. Dark, unbelievably dark. Creepy dark. But I know that for Hannah and her family the remains of their burned home constitute a kind of religious shrine, sanctified by the daily unearthing of melted toys, sodden clothing, and water-stained photographs. It's the only reason the fire officials allow them back in here. Despite the dangers inside, indicated by the big red X stapled onto the front clapboards, they are fulfilling the mandate of every major religion: to worship their dead. Public safety has its bounds, but certain latitudes are given where the needs of a grieving family are concerned.
The house is a shambles, much more than you'd imagine a killing fire would create.
The investigators, Hannah whispers. They tore apart everything.
Neither one of us has a flashlight. We navigate by the thin fissures of sun piercing each plywood window.
We pause at the stairs.
Be very careful, she says, with the confident authority of an explorer that has made the journey many times before. I watch where she places her feet, only on the outside six inches of the stringers, where the balusters used to be. Towards the middle, the treads are charred, some are even split in two. Below us, the black murk of the basement. A tumble might mean severe injury, even death. I carefully follow, to the landing at the top of the stairs. We take a few steps forward, suddenly find ourselves standing in the middle of Hannah's once-bedroom.
I am amazed by her courage to revisit this place, even if it is hallowed ground. In here, ground zero, where the devastation was most extreme, the flames the hottest, the smoke the thickest. In here, two young girls died in the scantest of moments, less time than it takes to walk to the corner and back.
Philip Austin
Philip Austin is the author of seven books, including a memoir, The Paintbox of Everything. His first novel, On Bethel Ridge, a Christmas fable published in 1998, was hailed by Publisher's Weekly as 'a sharply etched tale reaching across cultures with universal spirituality.'
Read more from Philip Austin
Yellow House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJuniper Point Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Wade in the Water
Related ebooks
A Good House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Towns of Eastern Michigan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarcy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mad River Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCuyahoga Falls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHamden: Tales from the Sleeping Giant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Garfield: Farm-boy, Soldier, and President Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost in Cabbagetown: A Memoir of Surviving Boyhood in 1960s Toronto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing of the Gold Coast: Cap'n Streeter, the Millionaires and the Story of Lake Shore Drive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5St. Joseph County's Historic River Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Mendocino Coast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Batavia: From the Collection of the Batavia Historical Society Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Around Essex: Elephants and River Gods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIngram Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlainfield Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Falls of Paterson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Death House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBridgewater Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Village of Delta Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Age of Big Business; a chronicle of the captains of industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Oak Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Logging in Plumas County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhost Town Stories of the Red Coat Trail: From Renegade to Ruin on the Canadian Prairies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAround Bellows Falls: Rockingham, Westminster and Saxtons River Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Crown Point, Indiana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDisaster in Paradise: The Landslides in Johnson's Landing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKate Clarendon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShandaken Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anonymous Sex Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Candy House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Wade in the Water
0 ratings0 reviews