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“Been waiting long?” he asked

“No,” I lied

“Good”

He opened the top of his patchwork backpack, which looked like it had been sewed together out of scraps of leather like a quilt The drawstring holding the top closed had a thin length of chain added with a tiny padlock

Thwarting his security he took out a sheaf of paper, held together with a staple in the top, left-hand corner The paper was fresh, seeht sun

“I did it like bullet points, going scene by scene,” Augustus said as I flipped through the pages

“Thanks,” I said, unable to think of anything clever to say

“I didn’t do it for all the movies Just Scorpio and the next couple Richard Kern I have a pretty full plate and can only do two or three at a tiraphy is a bit of a loon Guy is obsessed with Kubrick, like to a stalkerish degree”

I wanted to say so clever or cool or sexy Oh Lord, please let me come off as sexy Not as the nervous, aard kid that I was I was getting so sick of that part of ht help Like as soon as I setthrough the portal into a fairyland No dice, kitten

“I gotta be going,” he said, standing up

I fought the urge to grab his hand To pull hiirl in ly head I couldn’t act like a kid, I was supposed to be an adult, darn it At least in the eyes of the law and society