then a girl 's sweet voice rose in the air , solo for only the first three syllables : `` oh , say can - `` it was frannie 's voice , but for a moment it seemed to larry to be underlaid by another voice , his own , and the place was not boulder but upstate vermont and the day was july 4 , the republic was two hundred and fourteen years old , and rita lay dead in the tent behind him , her mouth filled with green puke and a bottle of pills in her stiffening hand .