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Lila was dressed as if leaving on vacation, in dark leggings paired with a crisply-starched, long-tailed shirt A brightly colored silk scarf lay over her shoulders She’d washed her face and brushed her hair, and was even wearing earrings and a bit of ht of her made Grey realize how dirty he was He hadn’t washed in days; probably he didn’t smell the best

"Maybe I should clean up a bit"

Lila directed him to the bathroom at the head of the stairs, where she’d already laid out a change of clothes for him, neatly folded on the toilet seat A brand-new toothbrush, still in its wrapper, and a tube of Colgate rested on the vanity beside a jug of water Grey peeled off his jumpsuit and washed his face and splashed his ar the broad mirror He hadn’t looked at his reflection since the Red Roof, and it still carowing lushly over his scalp, eyes radiating a jewel-like glitter He looked like he’d lost a lot of weight, too-not surprising, since he’d eaten nothing in two days, but the degree to which this had occurred, both in quantity and kind, was startling He wasn’t just thinner; it was as if his body had rearranged itself Turning to the side, holding his gaze on his reflection, he ran a hand experimentally over his belly He’d always run on the chubby side; now he could discern the taut outline ofhis arht Actual biceps God da Lila had left for him-white boxers, a pair of jeans, and a checked sport shirt-discovering, to his continued amazement, that it all fit rather well He took one last look at hi rooh a People arded hi in her airy way "Don’t you look nice"

He wheeled the suitcases to the Volvo Thein the trees As if the two of theht, shaking his head Yet as he stood in the driveearing another man’s clothes, this almost seemed true It was as if he had stepped into a different life-the life, perhaps, of the raced his newly slender,his chest The air felt fresh and clean in his lungs, full of scent Grass, and new green leaves, and damp earth It seeht before, as if the light of day had cleansed the world

He sealed the hatch and looked up to see Lila standing at the front door She turned the lock, then re fro tape fro back to look at it A letter? Grey thought Who would it be for? David? Brad? One of these, probably, but Grey still had no idea ho The two seeeable in Lila’s mind

"There," she announced "All set" At the Volvo, she handed hiht if you drove?"

And Grey liked that, too

Grey decided it would be best to stay off the h this fact was unstated, it also seerees that ht upset her This turned out not to azine He picked his way through the suburbs; byland of e east on a rural blacktop The city faded away behind the in the haze The scene around theotten quality-just a scrih overhead, and the dry fields, and the highway unspooling under the Volvo’s wheels Eventually Lila gave up her reading and fell asleep

The oddness of the situation was inarguable, yet as the htness in his chest Never in his life had he really , anything to co he could coht into Egypt-a boyhood memory, because Grey hadn’t been to church in years Joseph had always see so to see the sense in it, how a person could beco was, Grey liked wo, with the boys, was different It wasn’t about what he liked or didn’t like but what he had to do, because of his past and the things that had been done to him That was how Wilder, the prison shrink, had explained it The boys were a co to the , seek to understand it Grey no more decided to touch the boys than he decided to scratch an itch A lot of what Wilder said sounded like bullshit to Grey, but not that part, and ithe wasn’t entirely at fault Not that it let him off the hook any; Grey had beaten himself up plenty He’d actually felt relieved when they sent hi on the edges of playgrounds and cruising slowly past the junior high at three o’clock and dragging his feet in the locker roo pool on suain

His irl thing, Grey knew that, but it wasn’t nothing either It irl he’d dated in high school She hadn’t been a girlfriend, exactly; they’d never actually done anything The two of theotten it in his head to play the trumpet-and sometimes after practice Grey would walk her ho about those walks made him feel for the first time that he wasn’t alone on the earth He wanted to kiss her, but he’d never sue; eventually she’d drifted away Curious that Grey should reht her na the Kansas border Lila was still sleeping Grey hi attention to the road He’d ed to avoid towns of any considerable size, but this couldn’t last; they’d need gas soon Ahead he saater tower poking frowood-just a short, dusty main street, half the store s papered over, and a few blocks of dismal houses on either side It looked har had happened was an ambulance parked in front of the fire station with its rear doors hanging open And yet Grey sensed soress was being observed froth of the town, finally coe, an off-brand place called Frankie’s

Lila stirred when Grey shut the engine off "Where are we?"

"Kansas"

She yawned, squinting through the windshield at the desolate town "Why are we stopping?"

"We need gas I’ll just be a sec"

Grey tried the pump, but no dice: the poas off He’d have to siphon soth of hose and a can He stepped into the office A battered metal desk, covered with stacks of paper, stood by the front ; an old office chair rested behind it, rocked back on its hinges, giving the ghostly i only recently been vacated He h the door that led to the service bays, a cool, dark space that se, was perched on one of the lifts; the second bay was occupied by a Chevy 4×4 with a jacked-up suspension and fat, as can; on one of the workbenches, Grey located a length of hose He severed off a six-foot section, slid one end into the 4×4’s fuel port, drew in a sip that he spat away, and began to siphon gas into the can

The can was nearly full when he heard a scuffling above his head Every nerve in his body fired si him in place

Slowly he lifted his face

The creature was suspended fro upside doith its knees folded over the strut like a kid onAs their eyes locked, Grey’s heart froze between beats Fro sound

You don’t have to be afraid, Grey

What the fk?

His feet tangled under hi to the hard concrete He snatched the gas can off the floor, fuel still gushing froed from the service bay into the office and out the door Lila was standing with her back braced against the car

"Get in," he said breathlessly

"You didn’t notice if they had a vending et a candy bar or soet in the car" Grey threw open the Volvo’s hatch, tossed the can inside, and slahed "Fine, whatever you say I don’t see why you have to be so rude about it"

They raced away Only when they were a in to slow He let the Volvo coast to a stop, threw the door open, and stu at the side of the road, he placed his hands on his knees, breathing in huge gulps of air Jesus, it was like the thing had spoken to hie he could understand It even knew his name How did it know his name?

He felt Lila’s hand on his shoulder "Lawrence, you’re bleeding"

He was His elbow looked ripped open, a flap of skin dangling He

"Letan expression of intense concentration, Lila gently probed the edges with her fingertips "How did it happen?"

"I guess I tripped"

"You should have said so Can you move it?"

"I think so, yeah"