In a few moments, I had thrown together some spaghetti. The boys and I ate in a half-awkward, half-solemn silence. Every now and then I leaned into the bedrooms to check on Mr. Boss (still unconscious) and Fanny (still asleep). The boys retreated to their rooms and soon it was just me, sitting in my friend's kitchen eating spaghetti. I thought to myself how weird this was. Mostly I was just stirring the pasta around. The sauce had gone cold. Occasionally I stuffed some in my mouth. I was thinking, always thinking. What would this mean for Fanny? What would happen? What would-

I heard footsteps and turned around. There was Fanny, standing in the doorway with a tear streaked face. I motioned for her to sit down and offered her some spaghetti. She stared at it for the longest time. Normally I would say "You know, you're supposed to eat it," but it didn't seem like the time for humor.

I looked at Fanny again. Tearstreaked face, blood-spattered shirt, wrinkled skirt, mussed hair. Her helmet had gotten flung off somewhere between the theater and the bedroom.

She finally scooped some spaghetti in her mouth. I picked up my plate, not really wanting to eat more. I pushed it into the dishwasher and leaned against the counter, watching Fanny eat. She finished and just sat, staring at her plate.

"Want some more?" I offered. She shook her head and just kept up her intense staring contest with the pink flower on the plate. I sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright," I tried to reassure her.

"No it won't," she said. "He's gonna die."

"He is not," I said. "It'll be fine.""HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE?" Fanny shouted. "HOW CAN YOU BE SURE THAT NOTHING WILL HAPPEN? HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT ALL OF THIS? IT'S LIKE YOU DON'T EVEN-"

"Listen!" I said, taking ahold of her. "I do care. I do. I'm being calm because I don't want to upset your brothers. And I like to be optimistic. I am hoping that everything will be alright."

She was silent. Then she started sobbing again. "I know. I'm just- it's just-"

"Shhh," I said, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. "It'll be alright."

I kept saying that. I tried to think of something else reassuring to say, but "It'll be alright," was all that came to mind.

Suddenly Patty came into the room. "Um- I think something's wrong."