Price - Noble Norfleet

NOBLE NORFLEET

BOOKS BY

REYNOLDS PRICE

NOBLE NORFLEET 2002

FEASTING THE HEART 2000

A PERFECT FRIEND 2000

LETTER TO A MAN IN THE FIRE 1999

LEARNING A TRADE 1998

ROXANNA SLADE 1998

THE COLLECTED POEMS 1997

THREE GOSPELS 1996

THE PROMISE OF REST 1995

A WHOLE NEW LIFE 1994

THE COLLECTED STORIES 1993

FULL MOON 1993

BLUE CALHOUN 1992

THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE 1991

NEW MUSIC 1990

THE USE OF FIRE 1990

THE TONGUES OF ANGELS 1990

CLEAR PICTURES 1989

GOOD HEARTS 1988

A COMMON ROOM 1987

THE LAWS OF ICE 1986

KATE VAIDEN 1986

PRIVATE CONTENTMENT 1984

VITAL PROVISIONS 1982

THE SOURCE OF LIGHT 1981

A PALPABLE GOD 1978

EARLY DARK 1977

THE SURFACE OF EARTH 1975

THINGS THEMSELVES 1972

PERMANENT ERRORS 1970

LOVE AND WORK 1968

A GENEROUS MAN 1966

THE NAMES AND FACES OF HEROES 1963

A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE 1962

SCRIBNER
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2002 by Reynolds Price

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference USA, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.

Set in Electra

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 0-7432-0417-4
eISBN 978-0-7432-3393-4

FOR
SUSAN MOLDOW

NOBLE NORFLEET

T he first time I ever made real love with another human being, I thought Id die. I didnt feel guilty, just smothered in pleasure. That same night my family vanished from the face of the Earth so far as I knew. I was seventeen years old. Id got home late, well after midnight. I still believe the three of them were safe at that hour. I stopped at their doors the way Id done for years; and I thought I heard them all breathing steadily, asleep. The way I felt, it was all I could do not to wake somebody up and spread the joy that was still high in me. But of course I couldnt tell what Id done, where Id been or least of all who Id been with. So I went to my own bed and finally slept sometime before dawn. The last time I looked at my clock, it was past two in the morning.

Church bells woke meit was nearly elevenand at first the room around me felt normal. It was not much bigger than a piano crate, but it had thick walls and a door I could lock. I lay on my back with my hands down beside me, and for several sweet minutes I let my mind rerun last night and its big surprise. Id known for five years that I had a working body, but except with myself Id never tried to prove it. Well, it was proven now beyond any doubt. And I felt justified in what Id done. Id hurt nobody, least of all God (for whatever reason I was sure of that, and I still dont doubt it). And Id pleased two sane souls, her and me.

But once Id got to the end of my rerun, the stillness bore in on me from all sides. The house was too quiet. A slow chill crawled up my legs and back. I pulled on my underpants and walked to the door. There were no sounds from the hall or any other room. At normal volume I said Anybody?

Nobody said a word, not a creak or a laugh. For reasons Ill explain, our house almost never went completely quiet.

So I turned left and went to the next roomthe last one on the hall, which was our only bath. It was cleaner than usual. Even the towels were neatly folded. I went ahead and took a long shower that soon had me ignoring my feeling that the house was empty. That round of pleasure lasted so long I expected Mother to burst in and tell me Id have to pay the water bill if I didnt quit. She was normally generous, but occasionally shed have sudden outbursts of frugal fearswed be in the poorhouse by sundown if such-and-such form of waste didnt cease. Anyhow I quit and dried myself, walked to my room and laid out a set of clean clothes. Before I dressed I even stopped in front of the mirror. It had been a wedding present to my mother and father and had hung in their room till Dad left us hanging. Literally the next day Mother told me to move it to my room. It had such good memories for her she couldnt stand to see it, but she couldnt bear to give it away. Somebody might crack it. Even that early, Mother was thinking how mirrors had memories that could be released to walk round the house and cause real pleasure or actual damage.

Till then Id never paid much attention to how I looked. I thought I was average. People didnt run from me nor flock to me either, not in droves anyhow. But this Sunday morning I had to admit I looked a lot stronger in muscle and bone than ever before. And my face and thick black hair were improving, almost as I stood there. When I put on my pants, I realized I was moving like a china doll. Id been so happy in my fine skin these past twelve hours, I was scared of breaking. Then a harder chill hit me, and I shook like a beat dog.

I said it out loudTheyre surely at churchbut I knew my mother hadnt been to church since Dad walked off. My brother and sister were good-hearted heathens. By then I was starting to feel a real dread. Something was wrong. Had I somehow caused it? I already knew Id had more pleasure in the past few hours than Mother had known in her whole life. My brother and sister were a lot less lucky than me at everything. Theyd hardly got a chance to know Dad, and at his best he could cause more laughter than any trained pig. When the chill faded I remember thinking Youre the killer here, Noble. Yet all Id actually killed to that point was one male robin with a homemade slingshot.

I didnt pause to look into rooms till I reached the kitchen at the far end. Like the bath it was way too neat. No sign of a plate nor any scrap of food. On the breakfast table there was nothing but the notepad Mother used for lists. Parallel beside it was the old ice pick, shining as new as if somebody had scrubbed it with steel wool. The top note on the pad said Rat trap and Pears. Wed never had rats and it wasnt pear season, so I was spooked to look at the next page.

But I knew I had to, and all it offered was four bars of music in my brothers hand. He was taking piano lessons that he paid for by selling peanut butter door to door in a Cub Scout uniform (he wasnt a Scout), and he was good at tunes from the start. I could tell it was already his main escape. And I knew enough about music myself to hum his short melody, nine notes long. It broke off, as high as my voice would go. So at that point I looked out the window. The car was gone.

By then I thought I knew what had happened. There was nothing to do but throw my head back and howl at the ceiling or search the house and either confirm or deny my guess. I went to Mothers shut bedroom door and knockedno answer. I opened it and looked in. Nothing but a neat bed, clear daylight and her wedding dress laid out on the quilt. Shed always said we should bury her in that, and every few months shed take it out and check it for mildew or mold.

My brother and sister were still young enough to sleep in the same room, between mine and Mothers. I went on there and the door was open. They were in their bunk beds, my sister on the top one. Her name was Adelle. She was nine years old and loved by all, for many good reasons. I stood in the door and called her name plainly. The least noise could wake her. She was facing my way but never moved. My brother was eleven, named Arch (for Archer)another big favorite for his endless sweet jokes. Arch was facing the wall, away from me. A dynamite stick in his ear couldnt budge him once he was asleep. So I went over to him and knelt by his side. When I reached to shake his shoulder, he was already cold in the warm spring air. I said something like Arch, dont tell me youre gone. He couldnt tell me anything of course.