Chapter 20: The StrangerThe following day Andy stood in line to audition for the role of Leon Steponovich Tolchinsky in Neil Simon’s play Fools down at a small theatre near the lake called The Aqua. Mason’s first day at Bradey Stationary at the Templeton Square pulled him out of the house. And Sebold had told me earlier in the day that he had to drive into Erie to buy some type of special potting soil for lilies that were just starting to pop up in the two gardens around Chester House. Their busy schedules left me alone at the house, defenseless when Fell Grind showed up unannounced on the front porch, knocked on the door, and said, “Come with me, Mr. Bass. Get a pair of boots and gloves on. It’s cold out here. If you don’t, you’ll freeze to death.”
I looked through Chester House’s cracke
