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The following day I again trekked down the Schuylkill Expressway, this tiry as I thought I ith Genise, I felt obligated to visit her Diane gave ravesites I stared blankly at Genise's grave I thought of our afternoon I remembered what she told me of Shannie's expectations I remembered her smile, her freckles, and her stricken expression as I betrayed our secret I walked away At Jerouilt for not being able to attend his funeral

I decided to drive by Genise's apartment in Lower Chelsea This little corner of the city, tucked along the Intra-coastal ay could pass for a ghost town I parked my father's car and stood on the sea wall across fro hipped across the bay stingingsun Although beautiful, I preferred the aesthetics of a Bitterroot sunset; s I jumped off the sea wall, climbed into the car and headed for Beyford As I left Atlantic City I caught limpse of the Atlantic Ocean in the rearview mirror

On New Year's Eve day as Diane took leave for a few hours to visit Shannie, reet the new millennium on the sa of Desert Storht

"Nervous?" I asked my father

"Nope," my father lied "What's there to be nervous about?"

"It's only your wedding day," I chided

"Second ti the wicked witch of San Francisco"

If you only kne envious I areat the newday

"You know," my father spoke "I could have told everyone that this Y2K hype wasDo you know that in the coht What a crock of shit Serves 'eetcheap coffee Idiots"

"You are nervous," I reproached my old man "I never heard you talk so much"

"Maybe excited," my father snickered

By afternoon the house was host to a flurry of activity I escaped for a walk down Main Street and across the hallowed tracks I spent the last day of the centurycandy while watching the river froe