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"Annnd there’s that," I rab a few carrot sticks and blush when I bite down and they explode like firecrackers in the quiet room "Ready to tell ned breath He shakes his head the slightest bit, and then he opens his eyes and stares at the whiteboard in front of us "I’m not exactly sure how to explain this," he says "I mean, I’m not sure what happened with you or how you saw youryour clues, or whatever" He looks at me for help, and I realize I’ve never actually had a chance to describe to him what happened tohis restaurant and exploding
"The first time was at the movies," I say "Before the previehen they have that ‘Turn off your cell phones’ ad I saw a few seconds of the sno careening over the curb, s There was never any sound, just the picture And then the Jose Cuervo billboard--it had a still shot of the truck explosion" I hesitate as I relive it, having tried so hard to block it out "Then I saw it on TV--and there was a new part added Nine body bags in the snow One of the a face"
I dropto say the next part
"A face?" he asks
I nod and whisper, "Your face"
He is quiet for a long ht up toour uneaten food to a different desk He sits back down and we drape our arms around each other as I tell hi fear when I found out Angotti’s was closed that one Saturday night All the times I drove past his restaurant to check if it was still there The way I studied the scenes and tried to figure things out by the snow levels on the street The vision’s growing frequency, intensity, and urgency until al played out Andthere was no way he’d believeabout it
When I finish, he nods slowly And then he says, "Mine has sound But not voices or street sounds or background noises Eleven sounds, to be exact All the saer and thumb and points it at Mr Polselli’s papier "
Five
My hand goes to ?" I whisper His "
"Oh my God" I look around the room as the shock of
it hits home "What, here? Our school?" His Adam’s apple bobs and his eyes turn desperate "I don’t know, Jules I can’t tell where it is"
"Tellyou can think of"
"At first it was so quick I , ‘Wait, what just happened?’ and then brushing it off as li out of the corner of my eye in the restaurant , like there was a person standing there on the other side with his arht out, but whenever I’d look full on, he was gone"