"But you still haven't laid it all out for me," Hillbilly said.

"What you need to know is this: Get the papers back and she won't get hurt, cause there's someone will hurt her for those papers."

"McBride?"

"Yeah, McBride. He may not do it himself, but it'll get done. Get the papers, the maps, she's got nothing, maybe there's no problem."

"Just make up some new maps."

"The old ones show up, that'll make a mess."

"Tell you what," Hillbilly said. "Hundred dollars sounds good, but that part about you being scared and the mayor missing, that don't sound good. Thing best for me to do is to forget we talked and stay away from Sunset. I've had my moment there, and it was a good one, but I'm moving on."

"Maybe you're a lot smarter than I thought."

"Comes to watching out for me, I'm plenty smart."

"What about Sunset?"

"Haven't a thing against her. She's a woman can make a man happy. I just don't want to be that happy, having the same woman around all the time. It's not the way I am. I got to have bigger stakes than any hundred dollars. My rules for me is take the path where there ain't nothing in it, and if there is, go around. See you, Rooster."

Hillbilly went down the street. Rooster watched him for a while, then a shadow fled over Main Street.

Rooster glanced up.

At first he thought it was a flock of birds. But they were close down and he could hear the buzz of their wings.

Insects. A large swarm of them. They turned suddenly as one, darted to the top of the overhang behind the red apartment, disappeared into the woods.

It was the day of the town meeting. Sunset thought about it all morning. She also thought about Hillbilly. She sent Clyde to search for him. It wasn't a thing Clyde wanted to do, but she knew he'd do it, knew she had that power over him, and felt like an ass because of it. But not enough of an ass not to do it.

Walking toward her car, Sunset noticed there was a lot of space between the limbs of the trees, letting in more sunlight than usual, and for a moment this confused her. Then she realized it was because lately it had been so hot and dry the trees were thirsty. Their limbs sagged, the leaves shriveled, turned brown and let loose, crunched beneath her feet like crackers.

She was thinking about the meeting when Marilyn's pickup rumbled into the yard and parked. Inside Sunset saw not only Marilyn and Karen, but sitting next to the passenger window, a big, somewhat handsome older man. In the truck bed was a young boy.

When they got out, the man, wearing a worn-out suit coat, lingered by the truck, and the boy stayed in the truck bed. Karen came up to her mother, reached down to pet Ben, who was sitting beside Sunset in a manner of defense.

"Is Hillbilly here?" Karen asked, and her voice broke when she spoke.

"No," Sunset said.

"Where is he?"

"I'm not sure. Who's that?"

"I don't know. We picked them up at Uncle Riley's house. I heard the boy got snakebit. That boy keeps looking at me, Mama. He makes me nervous."

"Why don't they come on up?"

"They're afraid of Ben."

"Take Ben in the tent with you. Make him lay down."

"Can I talk to you later?"

"Sure. Put Ben up."

"Come on, Ben."

Ben and Karen disappeared into the tent. Marilyn stopped at the water pump to pump water and wash her face. She looked up at Sunset, beads of water rolling off of her. "That's Lee. The boy is called Goose."

"Who are they?"

"The man is someone you ought to meet."

"Yeah?"

"Lee," Marilyn said, "come on over."

Lee came over and nodded. He said, "Hello, Sunset."

"You know me?" Sunset said.

"No. But I'd like to."

Sunset looked to Marilyn for help. Marilyn walked off toward the great oak by the road. Goose wandered over to the outhouse and went inside.

"I don't know you, then?" Sunset said.

Lee shook his head. "No. But we have a connection. I'm your father."

Sunset and Lee both stood silent for a long time, then Sunset, very quickly, slapped Lee, slapped him so hard he actually went to one knee.

Slowly Lee rose, a hand to his reddened face.

"You sonofabitch," she said.

"You hit hard for someone so little."

"Sonofabitch."

"Without a doubt," he said. "If it means anything, I didn't know you existed."

Karen and Ben stuck their heads out of the tent. Goose came out of the outhouse in time to see Lee rising to his feet. He said, "Lee, you all right?"

"I'm fine. Just stay back."

"Go on back in the tent," Sunset said to Karen.

"But Mama . . ."

"Just once, just goddamn once, do what I tell you."

Karen's head darted back inside, followed by Ben's.

"Just had your way with my mother and took off?" Sunset said. "That was it, huh?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's what I did. But I didn't know about you, not until Marilyn told me."

Sunset tossed a look at Marilyn.

Marilyn, standing by the oak, shrugged.

"After all these years you show up, and it's supposed to matter to me?" Sunset said.

"It doesn't have to matter. I understand why it might not matter. But I didn't know about you, Sunset. I was young. Your mother was young. We made a mistake. Hell, I made a mistake. I seduced her, and me a preacher . . . back then anyway. Not now."

"What do you want from me?"

"A few minutes."

"You don't owe him anything," Marilyn said from the safety of the oak, "but it might be worth hearing."

"You ran off," Sunset said. "My mother ran off. Though at least she cared for me for a while and left me a nice pair of shoes. Long worn out, I might add. And now you show up. I've been beat and raped and I've shot my husband, found his girlfriend dead and dug up her baby, and now I got you. What the hell did you do, old man, put a curse on the entire family?"

"In a way, I have. That's why I'm here. Was that my granddaughter?"

"I assume you're referring to the girl with the black hair, not the dog?"

Lee sighed. "I know when I'm whipped. But listen to this, and nothing else. I want to know you. I don't even know you and I love you-"

"Bull."

"I know how it sounds."

"You couldn't."

"But I do. You're my own flesh and blood. Only flesh and blood I got-you and Karen, not the dog. And I love you because I think God brought me back here to make amends, to do right by you. To love you without condition."

"That's nice of you. And if God's so smart, why did he let you run off in the first place? Answer me that."

"It was me run off, not God."

"Yeah. Well, I'm not that fond of either one of you."

"Sunset," Marilyn said, "when we're young, we're foolish. You and me, we should know something about that. Being foolish over certain men. Foolish in other ways."

"I've been fooled by one man, and bad, and I don't want to be fooled by another. Even if it's my father."

"We always get fooled," Marilyn said. "Anybody can fool anybody, and for all kinds of reasons."

Sunset studied Marilyn. Marilyn walked away. Sunset turned back to Lee, said, "Hell, I have your eyes."

"Yes, you do," Lee said. "And my hair. But you look like your mother."

"I'm not a drunk, though."

"She wasn't a drunk when I knew her. She was young, like me, fresh and had hopes. Maybe I doused them."

"Kids made fun of my hair when I was little. Better dead than red on the head, that kind of thing. Never got to go to school much. Never had much of anyone to help me do anything."

"You seem to have turned out all right. And a constable. With a gun."

"I wasn't elected. Not really."

"How many women do what you're doing?"

"I don't know of any-what's your name again?"

"Lee. Last name Beck, same as yours. But I wish you'd call me Daddy."

Lee and Sunset went for a drive. She drove where he suggested, trying to put it together, trying to decide how she felt and how she ought to feel.

She stopped where he said stop, near the creek, up beyond the sawmill at Camp Rapture. They got out and walked around, Lee going first this way, then that way, finally stopping at a spot on the edge of the creek.

"It wasn't all washed away then. Used to be a piece stuck out over the creek here. Had some small trees on it. And it was private under them trees. Bushes and grass were grown up around it. There was red bugs, though. Plenty of them."

"Storm took that piece of land away not long back. A storm I damn well remember. I shot my husband during it. I knew the place you're talking about well. Used to come here to play."

He smiled at her. "Did you?"

"I did."

"You were conceived here, Sunset. Well, almost. You were conceived on that piece of land got washed away."

"You and Mama . . . here?"

He nodded. "May not seem romantic to you, but it was to us. Came here often, and one time it was more than just holding hands. There was just that one time. I never knew that it took, so to speak. We used to lie here together and hear the water running below, and sleep in the heat of the day when we thought we wouldn't be missed. You see, your mother, like you, was pretty much on her own. No family to speak of."

"She might have been all right then. Later, she drank."

"Let's walk."

Sunset and Lee strolled along the creek. Lee said, "It's too late for me to find her. I know that now. But I've found a daughter, and that could be enough. That and a granddaughter. If you'll let it be enough."

"What about that boy? He a son of yours?"

"No. He's a boy I met on the road. Got snakebit and your mother-in-law gave us a ride to Uncle Riley's place. His wife saved him. He's mostly well from it."