Rooms That Remember

When the Odessa returned to Newport, the town behaved as if a low, private bell had been rung. People nodded longer than usual at Avery Cole in the grocery line. A student from the community college stopped them in front of the bait shop to ask if the creature—Avery refused to say the name some blog had offered it—had eyes like a cuttlefish. A reporter wanted adjectives. Donors wanted adjectives that could be turned into line items.

Avery wanted verbs: breathe, listen, return.