Read Online Assumption by Percival Everett - Free Book Online

the sun a chance to thaw things a bit.”
    “You got it,” Ogden said.
    Ogden dropped the receiver back onto the cradle. He stepped into the restroom and took a leak before going back to Manny and Rick. He ordered one more beer.
    The morning in Ogden’s place was extra cold. He’d forgotten to switch on his heater before going to bed. There was no point in cranking it up now. He’d be showered and gone before the edge was even taken off. He stood under the spray and let the water beat his neck and shoulders. He got dressed and looked at his dying bonsai. He was killing it with the cold. He turned on the heat. He grabbed a rod, his vest, and a box of nymphs on the way out.
    Fragua’s teenage daughter was driving away in her mother’s station wagon when Ogden arrived. He waved and she waved back. He pulled in beside Fragua’s truck and killed the engine. The light fog was already burning off. He knocked as he entered through the kitchen door.
    “Howdy, howdy,” Ogden said.
    “Howdy yourself,” Mary Fragua said. She leaned against the counter and blew on a mug of coffee. “How are you, Ogden?”
    “Fine. What about you?”
    “Good. Coffee?”
    “Please. I had to rush out. Overslept.”
    Mary nodded toward the front of the house. “You’re not the only one.”
    Ogden poured himself a cup. “Warren? He never sleeps late.”
    “Tossed and turned all night,” she said.
    Fragua walked into the kitchen. “Morning, cowboy,” he said.
    “What’s up, Indian?”
    “Not me.”
    “Sorry about this,” Ogden said. “Go get back into bed. You’ve been looking at my face all week. You don’t need more of it.”
    Fragua laughed. “That’s no doubt true, but I’m up. I can’t sleep in the daytime.” He looked out the window at the sky. “Looks like it might warm up a bit.”
    Ogden nodded. “I brought a rod.”
    “Mine is by the door.”
    “You two are pathetic,” Mary said. “Addicted. I made you two Cub Scouts some lunch. Two sandwiches apiece and they’re all the same, so no fighting.”
    “Thanks, Mary,” Ogden said.
    “Don’t thank her,” Fragua said. “She’s just making sure I’m out of the house for a while.”
    Ogden drove them north toward the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande. “Warren, do you ever consider the size of the trout you catch?”
    Fragua looked at him with a mildly puzzled expression. “What do you mean? I won’t keep an itty-­bitty one.”
    “No, I mean do you want to catch that monster fish that everybody’s always talking about? You know, fifteen pounds, two feet long.”
    Fragua looked at the road, smiled. “That’s not easy to answer. Seems like it would be. No, I don’t think so. A big fish is fun, I suppose, but so are small ones sometimes. Depends on the water. If I catch a ten-­incher in a creek that’s two foot wide, that’s a big fish. Know what I mean?”
    Ogden nodded.
    “What’s all this about?”
    “Nothing. I can’t get Mrs. Marotta’s face out of my head.”
    Fragua looked out the passenger window.
    Ogden turned off the highway onto the snow-­covered dirt road. “I think somebody taped a hose to the pipe and ran it into the bay of the truck. I think those men knew they were dying. You think it could have happened that way?”
    Fragua nodded. “Let’s just fish today. Fish and not worry about what we catch, okay?”

Ogden walked into the station a couple of days later to hear a man and a woman describe how their car had been vandalized. The well-­dressed couple told their story to Felton. The man told with some pride how he’d managed to get their car started.
    “Excuse me,” Ogden said. “Where did this happen?”
    “At Fog Canyon,” the man said. “That’s what we were told it was called. We were going to hike up to the falls.”
    “Never heard of it,” Felton said.
    “He’s talking about Niebla Canyon,” Ogden said.
    “That’s what
niebla
means?” Felton said.
    “We’ve had a run of incidents up