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"Wave," he growls inout that s, and there’s a hard knot of fear in oddaers

I lift ive a quick wave When several kids wave back, I feel a little better I try again, with a little experi--that’s the worst part of the costule of blond hair with seashells plastered to it--and a girl in the front row leans over to her mom and says loudly over the music, "Mommy, did you see the pretty ers starts into his song, and slowly my nervousness lifts All I have to do is sit around and has sowith the music I even join in on the choruses: "Fantasy Land is where dreams come trueFun-shine, Sun-shine, and new friends too"

We’ve just reached the last verse when it happens This portion of the song is a summary of FanLand park rules, and Pirate Pete has just warbled past the interdiction on running and has started railing against littering When he coue, bends over, and displays her flat, feather-botto in the second row is barking so furiously, and vibrating so hard, it looks like it’s about to spontaneously co itself fro leaps

Heather screaet of her butt Fortunately, the costuet a s around in a panicked circle, trying to knock the dog loose All the kids are screeching with laughter, apparently not realizing that this isn’t part of the show, as Rogers stands, gape- lost the thread of the e, and I stand up to help, forgetting about the ether

Instead I pitch forward, face-first, landing hard on the ground and cutting hter has swelled to an ocean of sound I can just barely make out cries of The , then subsueneral roar I roll over onto e, after two false starts, to wobble tofro his best to contain the crowd I waddle offstage as quickly as the costu the fact thathasn’t even finished playing, reaching down to try and yank off the tail as soon as I’m concealed by the palm fronds

A hand reaches out to steady me "Whoa, there Easy FanLand limits its employees to one face-plant per day"

Parker

"Very funny" I snatch my arm away

"Come on Don’t behard not to laugh It’s the first time he’s smiled at me since I ditched the party "Here Let me help you"

I stand still while he takes the zipper and eases it down over et the fabric free of thepasses through me, like a shiver but warm

Stop Stop Stop

He’s Dara’s now

"Thanks" I crossthe flimsy nylon T-shirt, which ing thefor a stage career," he says, still s more on professional self-humiliation," I say

"Hh I’ve heard it’s a difficult major" One of his dimples shows, the one on the left, the deeper one When I was little, like five or six, he once daredand look away so I won’t keep staring at his dis, ti "I’m a natural talent"

"See ive you a ride hos are different now, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise

Gone are the days I used to sit with et mad about the toe-shaped imprints on the inside of the windshield, while Dara huddled in the backseat, whining about the fact that she never got shotgun Gone are the days of hunting doeird crap in 7-Elevens and gas stations, of splitting a Big Gulp between the three of us or just driving around with no place to go, n, while the ocean thundered somewhere in the distance and the crickets cried out as if the world was ending

There’s no going back Everyone knows that

But then Parker slings an arm around my shoulder, and he sreen and soft cotton, and he says, "You knohat? I’ll even let you put your feet up Even though they s away froh

"So what do you say?" he says, rubbing his nose and then tucking his hair behind his ear, radio-signal code for when he really wants so "For old times’ sake?"