Candy went closer to the wall, examining the marks. A part of her—the part that her morbid grandmother could take credit for—wanted to ask Norma the obvious question: how had the stains got up there? Had he shot himself, or used a razor? But there was another part that preferred not to know.

"Horrible," she said.

"That's what happens when people realize their lives aren't what they dreamed they'd be," Norma said. She glanced at her watch.

"Oh Lord, look at the time. I've got to get going. That's the story of Henry Murkitt."

"What a sad man," Candy said.

"Well, I guess all of us are waiting for our ships to come in, one way or another," Norma said, going to the door and letting Candy out onto the gloomy landing. "Some of us still live in hope," she said with a half-hearted smile. "But you have to, don't you?"

And with that she closed the door on the room where Henry Murkitt had breathed his last.

3. DOODLE

Miss schwartz, candy's history teacher, was not in a pleasant mood at the best of times, but today her mood was fouler than usual. As she went around the classroom, returning the project papers on Chickentown, only her few favorite students (who were usually boys) earned anything close to good marks. Everyone else was being criticized.

But nothing the rest of the class had faced compared with Miss Schwartz's attack on Candy's paper.

"Facts , Candy Quackenbush," the woman said, tossing Candy's paper about Henry Murkitt's demise down on her desk. "I asked for facts. And what do you give me—?"

"Those are facts, Miss—"

"Don't answer back," Miss Schwartz snapped. "These are not facts. They are morbid pieces of gossip. Nothing more. This work– like most of your work—is worthless."

"But I was in that room in the Comfort Tree Hotel," she said. "I saw Henry Murkitt's sextant."