Tell them!' Muriel advised her, "Tell them you're not a kid any The Accidental Tourist more. You're seventeen years old and you can do what you like.
Her girlfriend might drop by after supper a fat young woman named Bernice who worked for the Gas Company Or neighbors might knock on the kitchen door. “Muriel, Saturday I got to go to the hospital, any chance of you giving me a lift?”
Muriel was unusual on this street in having a car, which was only possible through a complicated arrangement with a boy down the street, who was a good mechanic. The agreement was that Dominick did all the repairs on the car, and Muriel let him have the use of it three nights a week and all day Sunday.
Macon felt at peace on Singleton Street. He liked everything exactly the way it was, and wanted nothing to change.
On Wednesday there was a heavy snowstorm, and the next day Macon felt at peace on exactly the way it was, and wanted nothing to change On Wednesday there was a heavy snowstorm, and the next day Macon woke late, to a white, silent world. The snow was four feet deep, and the radio news said that schools were closed factories were closed, nobody was going anywhere.
Downstairs the kitchen was full of people. Claire was cooking pancakes, Alexander was eating them, Muriel was sitting with her cup of coffee, and Bernice was standing inside the back door dripping snow. Claire had been sleeping on the couch for the last few nights, having walked out after an argument with her mother I told Ma," she was telling Bernice, "I'd had enough of all her moaning where had I been, who was I with, on and on and on!
Then she saw Macon. "Hey there, Macon. Want a pancake?"
Just a glass of milk, thanks
"No newspaper this morning," Alexander told Macon Edward's going crazy, waiting for it to come.
A figure appeared at the back door, and Edward started barking. Macon opened the door and found his brother Charles.
"Charles?" he said. What are you doing here?'
Charles stepped in, bringing the smell of new snow. Your neighbor Garner Bolt called and said pipes have burst in your house, water all over everything. I've been trying to phone you but it's always busy.
‘That was me’ Claire said. "Wanted to stop my folks calling"
‘This is Muriel's sister, Claire’, Macon said, "and that's Alexander and that's Bernice. My brother Charles.
Charles looked confused. He refused one of Claire's pancakes but accepted a glass of milk from Muriel, and when Macon had fetched his coat, seemed glad to make his escape.
They drove carefully through the snowy streets to Macon's house. The living room was a disaster area bits of ceiling had fallen down, and all over the room it was raining, water running down the walls, through the curtains, pools lying on the floor.
Charles was shocked. "What are you going to do?' he said .
‘Turn off the water in the basement,’ Macon said. "Find my boots, and go.' The ruin of his living room did not upset him It belonged to another life, a different person. It was the past.
When they were back in the car, Charles turned to Macon with a serious expression. "I think it's time we had a talk," he said.