Free Phantom by Thomas Tessier

and we're always happy to see him. He's mindful and polite as
can be."
    "A credit to his upbringin' I'd say."
    "Thanks, it's good to hear that."
    "Got a million questions, of course, but
what feller his age doesn't?"
    "Yes." Michael realized that the old man had
set one hook in him: how many questions did Ned ask his own father?
Some, but not that many .... Well, trust a fisherman to
exaggerate.
    "No," Peeler continued, "he don't get in
nobody's way, no how."
    "I'm glad of that," Michael said, wondering
whether he had just heard a triple or quadruple negative. "You're
in the bait business, I see."
    "We sell bait, that's for sure. Do some
fishin' and crabbin' as well, and some repair work."
    "Really?" Michael tried to sound
impressed.
    "Yeah, there's always somethin' to do,"
Peeler said. "If not one thing, then another comes up. No end to
it."
    "You're a jack-of-all-trades, it sounds
like."
    "You could say that, I guess." Peeler knew
when he was being condescended to, but it didn't bother him. "And
you work in Washington, I believe. That right?" He could put a
little tone in his voice, too.
    "Yes, it is."
    "But you're not a politician?"
    "No." Michael smiled. "Just an
accountant."
    "That's good, I don't think too highly of
politicians."
    "Who does?"
    "Remind me of a bunch of angle worms
crawlin' around in a knot at the bottom of a jar, a scummy mess. It
seem that way to you?"
    Michael laughed. "It does, sometimes."
    "So, you bought the old Farley place."
    "The Farley place?" Michael was puzzled. "We
bought the saltbox on Chestnut Street."
    "That's it."
    "But we bought it from the Winslows, an
elderly couple who were moving down to Florida."
    "Yeah, the Winslows was there for a good few
years," Peeler said. "And the Petits before them. But someways down
the line that was the Farley place. I think they was the ones who
built the house in the first place."
    "Really? I don't know the whole history of
it," Michael said, genuinely interested now, "but I was told that
the house isn't actually all that old."
    "No, it ain't."
    "I mean, it's old enough, about eighty or
ninety years, but not as old as a lot of saltboxes."
    "But you like it, huh?"
    "Oh, yes, we love it. Of course, it needs
some fixing up. You know what they say: the only thing that works
in an old house is you. But they're small things, and we're just
really very happy to have found the place."
    "That's nice," Peeler said, but he had a
doubtful expression on his face.
    "Is that what everybody still calls it? The
Farley place?' Peeler nodded. "Why is that?" Michael asked.
    "I don't know," Peeler said. "Just outta
habit, I guess."
    The conversation meandered on for a few more
minutes, but it lacked a natural impulse of its own because, it was
clear, neither man really had anything much to say to the other.
Michael was checking out his son's elderly friend, a man with whom
he would otherwise not come into contact. Peeler knew well enough
what was going on, and he wert along with it. He just had to avoid
saying anything outrageous. It would be a big mistake to give
Michael Covington' any reason to keep his son away.
    "Where's your partner?" Michael asked as he
was about to leave for home.
    "Cloudy? He's in town, I expect. He's got a
room there and things to do." ,
    "Oh." Michael immediately felt relieved.
    "He ain't out here all the time, no," Peeler
went on. "Cloudy's what you might call a half-assed partner, y'see,
he helps me out some of the time, but he's got other work he tends
to as well."
    "Sorry I missed him, but I'm sure we'll run
into each other one of these days."
    "Sure you will.'
    Michael left, pleased that he would be able
to give Linda a reassuring account of his meeting with the old man.
Peeler and Cloudy. She would be particularly glad to learn that
they didn't live together in that tiny house. As for the rest, what
was there? A couple of odd names, some colorful talk and a thicket
of grammatical contortions. None of which was worrying. Ned
undoubtedly heard