Free The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

with a force so strong that his knees released their grip and his throat loosened. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, he could feel the stone cracking to release him. He moved first a hand and then an arm. Then, carefully, he took a step away from the wall and toward the window.
    When he was able, he began his daily work. His strength growing, he raised his shutter and opened the cent shop. It was not Hepzibah’s shop, the one he had created in the book; it was not even a bad rendering of it. But it was the best an old man could do.
    The customers bought what he put out. One by one they came, shyly at first like the little boy in his story, but then more boldly.
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    Z EE COULDN’T FIND A PARKING place on Turner Street. Tour buses lined the lot at the House of the Seven Gables, and the touristswho came in their own cars parked on the sidewalk, ignoring the RESIDENTS ONLY sign in favor of a ten-dollar ticket they would never pay.
    She finally parked on the small patch of green where Finch kept his bird feeders. As she got out of the car, she noticed a tourist walking away with an antique ship’s model, which seemed to fly through Finch’s first-floor window and into his hands.
    Her first thought was that Finch was being robbed. Then she noticed the tourist’s bags hanging from the guy’s arm, a small child at his side. As she got closer, she spotted the hand-lettered sign in the top of the window: HEPZIBAH’S CENT-SHOP . And underneath it a smaller sign, also hand-lettered: EVERYTHING MUST GO .
    Finch’s hair stood up in white tufts. His voice was hoarse. He didn’t recognize her until she stood directly in front of him, and when he did, he immediately started to cry.
    The tourists moved back, out of the way.
    â€œDad,” she said. “What’s going on here?”
    â€œHepzibah,” he said. “My Zee.” He reached out for her, gripping her hand as hard as he could. “I willed it so,” he said, and then turned to his audience, his faith in life itself renewed. “I willed it so!” he cried.

P ART 2:
June 2008
    The ancient method of Dead Reckoning or deduced reckoning is often unreliable. Winds, tides, and storms can easily push the ship off course. Every mistake is compounded, altering her passage in critical ways, often with tragic results. For this reason, sailors eventually turned to celestial navigation. The stars are a constant. The earth spins, but the stars remain fixed in the heavens. Even the stormiest sky eventually will clear to reveal them.

7
    F INCH PRACTICED TOUCHING HIS thumb to his middle finger as rapidly and accurately as he could. He had succeeded fairly well with his right hand but was slower and clumsier with his left.
    â€œThere’s usually one side that’s weaker than the other,” the doctor said, taking notes.
    â€œI’m aware of that,” Zee said. They’d been through the routine at least a dozen times. “We’re here about his medication.”
    â€œUnfortunate,” he said. “But we did know that this one might not work. This particular medication came with warnings. It causes hallucinations in some people.”
    â€œAnd clearly he’s one of those people. He thought he was Nathaniel Hawthorne.”
    The doctor’s eyebrows raised. “Creative. Of course, considering his background…”
    Zee fired him a look.
    â€œOften men believe they’re working for the CIA, some covert-ops kind of thing. Women’s hallucinations often tend to be more sexual in nature,” he said, grinning at her.
    Zee ignored his remark.
    Neurologists have a rather warped sense of humor, Mattei had told her more than once.
    â€œWe’ll take him off it.”
    â€œI’ve already done that,” she said. When she hadn’t been able to reach the doctor by phone, she had checked the PDR and had called a friend of Michael’s who was also a neurologist. There was no