The Weight

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Part Two Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Part Three Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Part Four Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Part Five Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Part Six Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page Dedication Epigraph Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright I II III V VI VII VIII IX X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 
 
 The Weight
 A Novel
 Jeff Boyd
 “Powerful”
 —Kiley Reid
 “Wondrous”
 —Jess Walter
 “A Big New Talent”
 —Joshua Ferris
 “How the F Did He do That!?”
 —Xochitl Gonzalez
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Simon & Schuster
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 This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 Copyright © 2023 by Jeff Boyd
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 First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition April 2023
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 Interior design by Wendy Blum
 Jacket design by Sam Smith
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
 ISBN 978-1-6680-0725-9
 ISBN 978-1-6680-0727-3 (ebook)
 
 
 For Cece
 
 
 
 No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall ever come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contract, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such free negroes and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the State, or employ or harbor them therein.
 —Article 1, Section 35 of the Oregon Constitution, 1857
 
 
 
 
 Who will speak these days,
 if not I,
 if not you?
 —Muriel Rukeyser, “The Speed of Darkness”
 
 
 
 PART ONE
 
 
 1
 THE PLACE WAS A RUIN. Painted blue so many years ago, its primary color was now dirt brown. William walked up to the house’s front landing. I stayed on the sidewalk. It was a beautiful day, but if anyone was inside the house, they didn’t seem to care. There was a window to the right of the door and the blinds were drawn. The doorbell didn’t work. The screen door was locked. William hit it a couple times. The frame rattled violently, and still no one came to the door.
 “Can’t you just call the guy?” I asked him.
 He turned to me and shook his head no. “I don’t have his number,” he said.
 Two houses down, a white woman was standing by a street-side mailbox. She was watching us.
 “Let’s get out of here,” I said.
 “Hold on a minute. Maybe we should ask those guys across the street.”
 On the front porch of the house across the street there were