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"I' to pretend I didn't hear that word froht?"

Kate couldn't help wishing she was like Tully She'd never back down so easily She'd probably light up a cigarette right now and dare her y pocket of her skirt and found her cigarettes Lighting up, she studied Kate "You know I love you and I support you and I would never let anyone hurt you But Katie, I have to ask you: What is it you're waiting for?"

"What do youhoet to know you when you act like that?"

"They don't want to know ood to sit around and wait for soe your life That's o on Washington"

"So that I can make friends?"

"So that you know you can be whatever you want to be Your generation is so lucky You can be anything you want But you have to take a risk so I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret e don't do in life"

Kate heard an odd sound in her ret But what could her h popularity? She hadn't been a teenager in decades "Yeah, right"

"It's true, Kathleen Someday you'll see how smart I am" Her mom smiled and patted her hand "If you're like the rest of us, it'll happen at about the same time you want me to babysit for the first ti about?"

Molad we had this talk Now go Make friends with your new neighbor"

Yeah That would happen

"Wear oven mitts It's still hot," Mom said

Perfect The mitts

Kate went over to the counter and stared down at the red-brown glop of a casserole Dully, she fitted a sheet of foil across the top, curled the edges down, and then put on the puffy, quilted blue oven ia had ed feet into the fake Earth shoes on the porch and headed down the spongy driveway

The house across the street was long and low to the ground, a rambler-style in an L shape that faced away froled roof The ivory sides were in need of paint, and the gutters were overfloith leaves and sticks Giant rhododendron bushes hid reen spiky barrier that ran the length of the house No one had tended to the landscaping in years

At the front door Kate paused, drawing in a deep breath

Balancing the casserole in one hand, she pulled off one oven mitt and knocked

Please let no one be home

Almost instantly she heard footsteps fro open to reveal a tall woman dressed in a billowy caftan An Indian-beaded headband circled her forehead Two e dullness in her eyes, as if she needed glasses and didn't have them, but even so, she was pretty in a sharp, brittle kind of way "Yeah?"

Weird, pulsing h the lights were turned off, several lava lareen and red canisters

"H-hello," Kate stauys this casserole"

"Right on," the lady said, stu

And suddenly Tully was co with a grace and confidence that was ht blue h to be driving a car Without saying anything, she grabbed Kate's ar roo was pink: walls, cabinets, curtains, tile counters, table When Tully looked at her, Kate thought she saw a flash of so that looked like embarrassment in those dark eyes

"Was that your mom?" Kate asked, uncertain of what to say

"She has cancer"

"Oh" Kate didn't knohat to say except, "I' eye contact with Tully, Kate studied the table Never in her life had she seen so much junk food in one place Pop-Tarts, Cap'n Crunch and Quisp boxes, Fritos, Funyuns, Twinkies, Zingers, and Screa Yellow Zonkers "Woish my mom would let me eat all this stuff" Kate immediately wished she'd kept her ive herself so to do--and somewhere to look besides Tully's unreadable face--she put the casserole on the counter "It's still hot," she said, stupidly, considering that she earing oven mitts that looked like killer whales

Tully lit up a cigarette and leaned against the pink wall, eyeing her

Kate glanced back at the door to the living room "She doesn't care if you smoke?"

"She's too sick to care"

"Oh"

"You want a drag?"

"Uhno Thanks"

"Yeah That's what I thought"

On the wall, the black Kit-Kat Klock swished its tail

"Well, you probably have to get hoain, sounding even ht"

Tully led the way back through the living rooirl frohbor attitude"

Tully yanked the door open Beyond it, the falling night was a blurry purple rectangle that seemed too vivid to be real "Thanks for the food," she said "I don't kno to cook, and Cloud is cooked, if you knohat I mean"

"Cloud?"

"That's my mom's current name"

"Oh"

"It'd be cool if I did kno to cook Or if we had a chef or so cancer and all" Tully looked at her