Page 11 (1/2)

"Nice to meet you," I say

"Nice to meet you, too Don’t hurt hio to your roo up on the mail

"You’re not the boss of me"

"I can’t believe you just said that What are you, six years old?"

"Excuse me, but aren’t you the one who just said ‘Go to your roootten?"

It’s clear Noah hasn’t forgotten And neither, to her credit, has Claudia

Satisfied by this turn of conversation, Claudia drops the subject "I just ets up from the table "You can have some, but leave at least half"

Once she’s out of the room, Noah asks me if I have a little sister I tell him I have an older brother, which isn’t really the sa you up," Noah says

I nod

After drinking soo-cherry-vanilla concoction, Noah leads me up the back stairs to his room

Before we reach his door, he says, "I hope you don’t iven whiht before

Then I see his room and I know exactly what heat it and describing it The ceiling is a swirl of just about any color you’d care to iine But it doesn’t seem like it was painted with different colors--it looks like it appeared at once, as a whole One wall is covered with Matchbox cars glued in different directions, with a town and roads drawn in the background His ; his stereo is elevated on a pedestal of postcards from absurd places--Botswana, the Kansas City International Airport, an Elvis convention His books are kept on freestanding shelves hung at different angles on a sea-green wall They defy gravity, as good books should His bed is in the middle of the room, but can be rolled effortlessly into any corner His shades are n

"You did all this in two months?" I ask It has taken me fifteen years to decorate my room, and it isn’t nearly as intricate or … whimsical I’d like it to be

Noah nods "Since I don’t know oes to the stereo and hits a few buttons He smiles a little nervously

"This is very cool," I assure him "It’s a very cool room Mine isn’t nearly as cool"

"I doubt that," he says

It’s not that the weirdness of the moment doesn’t strike me I realize that the two of us don’t really know each other And at the sa, unattributable vibe we’re both feeling, which intuitively tells us that we should get to know each other By showing li in return

In the led wall is a very narrow door-- it can’t beuard of shirts Then he disappears inside

I follow The door closes behind h the closet, which is unusually deep Because it’s so narrow, Noah’s clothes are hung in layers I push through the hangered row of his shirts and findto Narnia?" I ask

I squeeze to a crawl to follow his stretch up--he’s standing in a new passage, pulling hi, we’re headed into a corner of the attic But I can’t be sure