Coe Review

aspects of his parents' behaviors and confirm that it was true or untrue. According
to the final ruling, his mother had been unfit for a list of reasons,
including, but not limited to, unrestrained verbal profanity, a penchant for
recreational drugs, and many unabashed public displays of nudity.
In the fall of that year after having lost custody, Henry's mother swept
him away one Friday afternoon from his elementary school for an extended
vacation. She drove for eleven hours into the Kansas countryside and hauled
into what looked like a ranch at least a mile off the main road. They parked
somewhere among a tangled stretch of trees and emerged from the car with
only a spotlight of moon glow to guide them forward. They hiked into shorter
grass and sparse trees, down a hill, until Henry's mother led him to a large
rectangular red house with an inconspicuous facade now unraveled by the
change in elevation. Despite the hour (it was two a.m.) and the utter lack of
exterior lighting, the door swung open after a knock, and there before them
was a hearty group of thirty or so nudists slow-dancing to Doo-wop tunes
and casting a net of smiles as long as the room, the moment that captured
Henry's heart forever in favor of the sexual revolution. Whenever he told the
story, he paused and leaned in before the words "free love," as though it were
a divine revelation or the most brilliant fucking rule to life he'd ever heard.
When I imagined the scene in my head, I pictured Henry pulling his hand
from his mother and approaching all the flesh moving in slow motion with his
hand out, pointing with one finger, like Sleeping Beauty stepping toward the
green light and spinning wheel, wanting to touch the thing that'd kill her.
After several months of hanging out with Henry, I'd gathered a few things
about him. The high school football player was a passe seducer in this world,
and Henry's approach seemed easier to learn. He played the game like a pro;
he listened intently and asked questions, responded to everything the girls
said without once mentioning himself, making them feel uniquely interesting,
laughed at corny jokes and anecdotes; he kept eye contact until the girl would
look away; he dipped his eyes over her breasts and crotch, quickly, while she
was looking, only a moment's suggestion, only a hint of it; the girl would
become still, suddenly intrigued, smile, begin asking questions about him; he
knew then he had them hooked; he always gave vague answers. His key was
to seem beautifully mysterious, and he never gave too much information.
I must admit I couldn't wriggle out of knowing Henry was two-timing
Chloe. I knew too much, and it was the guilt of knowing paired with Chloe's
irascible nature that welded my mouth shut that night at the coffee shop.
Other girls, Sarah, Nadine, Luna, and Marm, waded in and out of Henry's
headquarters with less personal interest for me than Chloe.
Sarah was a not yet socialized debutante budding on her twenty first
52 Henry Fragmentary