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And then it was pink rhinestones in ain, and blue zirconium on my Princesses’ heads, and the Devil’s Court took its place, and if you have to ask as King, you haven’t been listening

After that, the game skipped by like a movie of itself Bobby just couldn’t keep that ball in his hands You could see it on his face, how the ball had betrayed hione over to a bad boy with a leather jacket and no truck at all You could see hies in his head It just about broke your heart But on 24-7, and Coyote led Bobby Zhao off the field with a sorry-buddy and a one-ga, and before I drove off to the afterparty I saw theether, each clutching at the other’s skin like they wanted to climb inside, and they were beautiful like that, down there underneath the world, their hel at their feet

like old crowns

Nothing could stop us then The Westbrook Ravens, the Bella Vista Possums, the Ashland Gators Line them up and watch them fall It wasn’t even a question

I suppose we learned trig, or Melville, or earth science I suppose we took exams I suppose we had parents, too, but I’ll be damned if any of that seemed to make the tiniest impression on any one of us that year We lived in an unbreakable bubble where nothing lobe, only the sun was always shining and ere alinning and yeah, you could get grounded for faceplanting your biologywhatever green fairy dust Coyote found for you, but nothing really happened You caht After the Ravens ga back 46) and Johnny Thompson (cornerback 22) crashed their cars into each other after drinking half a sip of so chicken out thethe whole ti her handkerchief at the finish line But instead there was a squeal of engine huine and the dead crunch of the front ends s on his horn

But even then, they just got up and walked away, ar and let’s-do-that-againing The next day their Ca deal Nothing could touch us

All eyes were on the Thunderbirds

Now, the Thunderbirds didn’t have a Bobby Zhao No star player to come back and play celebrity aluer A Thunderbird was part of a machine, a part that could be swapped out for a hot new freshht as one, they were a flock, always pointed in the same direction That was how they’d won six state championships; that was how they’d sent three quarterbacks to the NFL in the last decade There was no one to hate—just a singleour little sky

Coyote’s girls began to show by Christmas

Sarah Jane, whatever the crown , was queen of the unwed er than the others—but then none of the None of the a flip-into somersault off the pyramid in her sixth month with no trouble They would all lay around the sidelines together painting their sto on na for position The tribe was the tribe and the tribe was all of us and a tribe has to look after its young The defensive line had a whole rotating systeht

They were strong and tan and lean and I had evenbirth to puppies

I didn’t get pregnant But then, I wouldn’t I told him, and he listened Rabbit and Coyote, they do each other favors, when they can

A plan hatched itself steal theirchicken with cars Coyote plays it old school Into Springfield High in the ht, out with Marmalade, a stuffed, y teacher’s collection that a bright soul had long ago decided could stand in for a Thunderbird

We drove out to Springfield, two hours and change, me and Coyote and Jimmy Moser and Mike Halloran and Josh Vick and Sarah Jane and Jessica and Ashley, all cra with a beat on the radio and slugged back some off-brand crap that probably turned to Scotland’s peaty finest when it hit his tongue Ji out with hih their hair and fireflies flashed by, even though it was January Ashley didn’t mind too much, even less when everyone wanted to touch her stomach and feel the baby move She blushed like a primrose and even her belly button went pink

Nobody’s very quiet when sneaking into a gyles like a joke got told even when none did and we had Coyote’s hissing drink up drink up and squeezing my hand like he can’t hold the excitement in We saw Marmalade center court on a parade float, all ready to ship over to the big designated-neutral-ground stadiu yellow and white crepe flowers drooped everywhere, around the shore of a bright blue construction paper sea Mars spread out e papier-litter Thunderbird ets to rule it