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For BV, who decided his due date should be the same day as the due date for this novel

NOT AGAIN

The dread was like sht in the pit of my stomach I knew the sensation

well Used to feel it every day after school as I approached my house in Croton, Pennsylvania, not

knohatin what condition I ht find my mother

Passed out with a bottle of pills spilled on the floor? Manically cleaning the kitchen in her

paja I hadn't done? Yes, I knew dread all too well I

had just never felt dread like this upon my return to Easton AcademyIt was the Sunday of

Thanksgiving weekend, and, thanks to s House fund money, it was the first time I'd flown

back to Easton When I had said good-bye toat the airport I had actually

felt a pull to stay It was so ironic Now thathome was the hard

part, and it was co me the dry heaves But who could blame

the pariah I had become at Easton?

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