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“I’m sorry, I don’t have that date with me,” Chris said calmly
“Why are you hiding the date?”
Chris nodded briskly “Thank you for your time”
Lights flashed, ca out
But the press conference was over
It was quiet here in the early an Thin yellow clouds spread across the tree-tops, and the first glilanced off theinto the squishy, rain-soaked grass, and it ely buoyant to leave a set of footprints across the football field As if, for once, she was actually here
She heard the kids talking long before she reached the lip of the ravine Their chattering voices floated up from the dark copse of trees, accompanied by the sweet smell of marijuana
She couldn’t wait to join thee of the ravine, staring down at the crowd she’d tried so desperately to belong to
They were down there, clustered together, passing a thermos around in one direction, and a joint in the other The few kids eren’t sarettes
Lina frowned, disappointed suddenly Last night Angel—her dad!—had talked to her about drugs and booze and cigarettes
She’d heard it all a ht was different First of all, Angel was her dad, and she wanted him to love her But too, he seemed to understand her in a way no one ever had before Last night, as they’d sat together on the porch swing, listening to the tinny clanks of her reen eyes and felt as if she were looking into a mirror He was the first adult she’d ever knoho remembered what it felt like to be a kid
When she told hirown up But then, in the , he turned serious When she pulled out a cigarette and started to light up, he grabbed her hand and stared at her so long, she became scared
“First of all,” he said, “you can’t sery Butis for idiots, and you seem like a smart kid to me”
His words , she put the cigarette away After that, they lapsed into silence Night fell slowly, drizzling across the untended yard, blurring the edges of the trees A white ht
Finally her dad spoke again, and this ti and hard before each word “I’ abuser, and … worse I knohat sends a person out into the darkness, looking for a little bit of light—even if that light coth of an evening” He turned to her then, and she saw the disappointment in his eyes “I’ve ruined