The Elementals

by Michael McDowell

This morning I look one day older than God and a year younger than water!

Spirits don’t work that way, spirits don’t work the way we want ’em to. They don’t go by rules you set up for ’em. Don’t matter if somebody died or got killed, or if the house is all brand-new. It’s got something in it or it don’t, and you can feel it and that’s all there is to it.”