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676 THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON “ Aw, geezus, he was floating on the water. Awfully silent, as if time itself had taken a detour around that house. Smaller than thesmallest girl in this photo, the author seems at age twelve already the sort of person who would, 36 yearslater, write a study on belligerent behavior. Now, weeks later, during my holdout and Kline’s attempts to get me to scab, I was putteringabout my house, when the doorbell rang.

Then sheslammed the door, and walked across the street, to the bakery. “ My parents never said that about solos,” she said. Barmeier stands near the judge’s bench as Calista comes through the doorway. I told her where I was, and she came and got me.