Following a lead that takes him deep into the Louisiana bayou, Martian L. Beast discovers little more than rain-soaked roads and a blurry photograph. About to write off the trip as a bust, an offhand comment by the woman he’s interviewing reveals there’s more to this story than any of the locals would ever let on and more to what happened to Nelly than can easily be explained.
After her husband’s death, Nelly hid deep in the swamps of Louisiana. Filling the hole left in her life with fishing and whiskey, she was content in her misery and in the simple existence she pulled from the land. Days blurred one into another until Nelly notices there’s something odd about the gator that visits her stilt house each night, something odd in the way those dark eyes watch her every move.
An unusual encounter leaves Nelly convinced she’s losing her mind, as there’s no evidence for what’s happening to her aside from a pleasure riddled body and renewed hope in life. The nightly encounters continue, each one more passionate than the last, until Nelly finally discovers one of the swamp’s greatest secrets and uncovers the truth that lays hidden in the gator’s dark eyes.
While Nelly may have uncovered a secret known only to the most reclusive swamp dwellers, Martian is left with little more than questions -and a strong hunch that there’s more to these locals than meets the eye.
Prologue
Louisiana/1986
The flat-bottomed boat bore through the channel, bouncing over patches of lilies. Hair whipping into his eyes, Bobby called out over his shoulder to the older boy steering the boat, “Hey, Dan, could we stop by Nelly’s place? My Mom asked me to stop by and pick something up from her.”
“Yeah, we can do that.” His hand firmly wrapped about the tiller, Dan steered the boat down a side channel on the right.
As they approached Nelly’s dock, Bobby couldn’t help but think something wasn’t right. Nelly was only ever to be found in two places: either propped up in an old cane chair on the deck, ready to wave at whoever passed by or out in her boat fishing. Both her chair and boat were empty, the latter tied securely to the deck. He looked back at Dan to see if he noticed. The older boy met his eyes but didn’t say anything.
Dan laid off the motor, allowing the boat to coast on its own inertia toward the house. Without the noise of the outboard, the boys could now hear the mournful bellows of a gator nearby.
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Azael Alejandro Carrillo Ochoa
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Author review: Very easy to work with and does wonderful work. |
