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"A Ten, man You turn your back for one sec and you’re dead! Remember what happened to Charlie last year? I don’t want to lose my best friend that way!"

Bowen shoves Toaze travel slowly over le sy at all, I’ll call you over"

"But, Bowen--"

"If the kid was going to killinto Toer, older, and looks twice as lealares and says, "Yes, sir But if you die, I’ll never forgive you Couides me to a tent--the only tent near mine, secluded fro at me I duck into the tent and he follows "Sit in the corner" I do, right beside a guitar

Without thinking, I swish s It’s been recently tuned And polished to a high shine I look at Bowen, then at the callused tips of his fingers, and understanding sinks in

He’s digging through a black backpack when I say, "You’re the one as playing on the night I came to camp"

His hands pause, and he looks up atBeethoven’s Seventh"

"You played it at least a thousand tirained into uitar?"

He shrugs "I taught ed My whole life I’d always been surrounded by uess I … ainstand holds out a pair of faded jeans with ballpoint-pen ivy decorating the pockets I look from the jeans to him "They don’t stink, and I don’t think I can stand another minute in your presence unless you take off your pants," he says, scrunching up his nose at my--Arrin’s--pants

I take the jeans, press them to my nose, and inhale They don’t stink at all Quite the opposite, in fact They smell like Bowen

"So, hurry up and put the me "I’m on pollen duty today"

My heart starts to pound and ht now? Aren’t you going to wait outside?"

"And leave you completely unrestrained and unobserved? Sorry, Fotard" Mischief glea hard not to smile

I roll my eyes, and his mouth flickers into a quick s s and, while Bowen stares, pull the jeans on over a pair of plain white granny underwear that goes up to ranny underwear As h the buttonhole, Bowen hands ot a problem with the belt?" he asks

"When I was in the tunnels, I asked Arrin for soave me a leather belt," I say with a shudder

"Fecs don’t have much food Lots of them starve to death before they have a chance to turn"

"Turn? Turn how?" I ask as I loop the belt through my new pants and cinch it into place The moment it’s latched, electricity huether

"I’ll tell you while we pollinate," he says He slings one strap of the black backpack over his shoulder Next, he gets a rifle and slings it over the other shoulder,an X across his chest with the straps He eases out of the tent, and I follow

We walk past the cao to the base of the wall And I see the first living plant I have seen since I saw Jacqui’scorn Many plants, actually, in an assortment of row in dirt piled in the interior of old car tires, or in paint cans

I step up to a plant and trailmy eyes and my throat constricts "It’s beautiful," I whisper "What kind of plant is it?"

"A to at"It re to, where I arow And I have never seen a pair of electronetic cuffs, not to mention been forced to wear them

"Here" Bowen holds out a fine-bristled paintbrush, and I take it "We need to pollinate them or they won’t produce any fruit"