CHAPTER<br >Man must have the strength to break up the past...<br >he must bring the past to the bar of judgment， inter-<br >rogate it remorselessly， and finally condemn it.<br > --NIETZSCHE<br > parked on the banquette beyond the levee and sat<br > watching the sun drop toward the horizon across the<br >Mississippi. It was still hot and humid， and in the south-<br >west there were thunderheads pulsing and glowing. I<br >could feel rain in the air as I rolled up the windows and<br >climbed out of the car. A rain at dusk is a blessing.<br >Nobody who lives in New Orleans hates to see that<br >evening sun go down. Not in August.<br > Usually at that hour I d have been working in the city<br >room at the New Orleans Item， or making the rounds of<br >the places where crime news happens. That s what po-<br >lice reporters mostly do.<br > But that evening， it was a little different. I had an<br >appointment at the Bethel Bar on St. Peter Street. Some<br >guy had phoned the paper， asked for Wes Colvin， and<br >said in a thin， distant， weepy voice that he had a story<br >for me， something incredible he wanted to tell me. He<br >had talked fast， as if he had to get it out before somebody<br >caught him on the phone---or before he talked himself<br ><br >