I'd learned that the truck that Daniel had picked me up in at the bus depot was his, that he'd bought recently. Daniel cautioned me

to lock the door behind them again, and they left in his new truck. When I was alone, I finished cleaning the kitchen, and swept the floor.

I got into my pajamas, folding my jeans and thinking that I could wear them again the next day. My other pair that I'd brought with me

was muddy on the bottom of the legs, from when I'd stepped into that puddle.

I thought that I'd have to ask Daniel about going to the laundromat to wash my stuff.

I called Ford's dorm, and waited while whoever answered the phone went to hunt him down.

"Hullo?" he said, when he finally answered.

"Hi, Fordie," I said.

"Har!" he said, his voice glad.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Studying for a test tomorrow."

"What class?"

"Calculus," he said.

"Glad it's you and not me," I told him lightly.

"Your turn is comin'. You'd better start preparing for it."

"I was thinking of making lemon bars. It got me to thinking about you," I told him.

"I wish I was there to eat 'em," he said, sounding regretful.

"Have you talked to home lately?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Um, Saturday morning I think it was. Why? What's up?"

"I'm at Daniel's. I just thought they might have told you-"

There was a huge commotion in the background, thumping and hollering, and then Ford said, "Say it again, I couldn't hear

you."

"I'm at Daniel's."

"Yeah? How'd that happen? Crane take you for spring break, or what?"

Then, for the first time, I remembered on my birthday in October, that Crane's gift to me had been a future trip

to Nashville together at some point, him and I, to see Daniel. I felt a pit begin in my stomach, and I sat down on the corner of the couch,

stretching the cord between my fingers.

"No. Not with Crane," I said.

"What, then?" he asked.

"I came on the bus. By myself," I said.

"That's not funny, Har," Ford said.

"I'm serious," I said, and waited.

There was the longest silence, and I thought maybe we had gotten disconnected, or something.

"Ford?" I said questioningly.

"I can't believe you," he said, sounding mad.

"It was dumb. I know."

"You can say that again. Except that dumb is pretty mild. Raise it up to stupid, and it'll be closer. And besides, you broke your promise to me."

"What promise?" I asked, honestly puzzled.

"The day I drove you to school, the last time I was home, you swore to me that you wouldn't run off over this

whole custody thing!"

Oh. That conversation was coming back to me now. I had said something along those lines to Ford.

"Oh," I said, in a small voice.

There was another loud commotion in the hallway behind Ford, and then, even when it was quiet again, neither one of us

said anything for a few moments.

"I'm sorry I broke my promise, Ford," I said.

Ford made a sort of huffing noise in response.

"I wasn't thinking about anybody but me," I said, in honesty.

"Yeah." He was quiet again. And then he said, "Adam's gonna flip on you."

"I know," I said, my stomach knotting.

"What'd Daniel say?" he asked me then.

I hesitated. "He was angry."

"I hope he kicked your butt," Ford said.

"He did."

A pause. Then Ford said, sounding less ticked off, "Well, I'm glad you're okay. Safe and everything."

"Yeah."

Another pause.

"I'll make you some lemon bars when you come home," I told him.

"I'll eat them," he agreed. "When are you goin' home?"

"I don't know. We haven't talked about any of that."

There was talking in the background, and then Ford said, "Hey, somebody wants to use the phone. I'll talk to you later,

alright?"

"Okay."

"Call me back tomorrow night if you want," he offered.

"Okay."

"Try not to be a knothead," he warned me. "Okay?"

"I love you, Ford."

"Love you, too. Bye."

7

After that, I read awhile. I hadn't brought a book with me, but I was so bored that I flipped thru most of the magazines that

Red and Daniel had laying around. Mostly music magazines. Since that doesn't particularly interest me, it didn't take long.

I plinked away at the piano for awhile, and while doing that I realized that it had been forever since I'd practiced piano.

It seemed as though I hadn't done much of anything for a long time. Except worry, and get into trouble, I thought honestly.

It was while I was sorting thru the sheet music in the piano bench, that the phone began to ring. Instantly, I tensed up.

It was someone from home. I knew it.

Only it wasn't. It was just a telemarketer. Leaving a message on the answering machine.

I actually picked the phone receiver up, and started to dial home. But then I lost my nerve. I hung the phone up,

and did my shot, and went to bed.

7

I slept late the next morning. It was close to 8:30 by the time I woke up, and pulled on my jeans from the previous day, and my last

clean t-shirt, which was just a plain blue one. I went down the hallway and to the kitchen. The house was quiet, and there was

a note on the kitchen table, tucked under a plate with what looked like blueberry muffins on it.

I picked it up to read,

"Muffins and juice for breakfast. Gone to run errands.

Be back in a few.

D"

I poured myself a glass of juice, and took one of the muffins, biting into it. Yep. Blueberry. I grabbed an apple off the table,

and took my breakfast to the living room, curling up on the couch to watch television. At this time of day, and on a Wednesday morning,

there wasn't really anything on to watch. I listened to the news reports while I ate, getting up to turn it off when Daniel's key

clicked in the lock, and he came in the door, carrying a jug of milk and a newspaper.

"Hey," I greeted him.

"Morning."

He headed toward the kitchen and I tagged along after him, as he laid the newspaper on the table, and put the milk into

the refrigerator.

"Did you eat?" he asked me.

"Yes."

"Have you been checking your level and all of that?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Okay," he said, and poured a cup of coffee, picked up the newspaper, and headed back towards the living room.

I followed again, still carrying my glass of apple juice.

"I guess I slept a long time," I said, making conversation.

"Yeah. I figured you needed it, so I left you be."

"I guess I was tired," I said.

"It probably wasn't very comfortable, sleepin' on that bus, was it?" he asked, giving me a glance.

I felt my face warm a little at the mention of that bus ride.

"No. Definitely not comfortable," I said.

Daniel sat down on the couch, shaking open the newspaper. I sat down in the middle of the couch, almost next to him.

"Want some of the paper?" he offered.

"The comics," I said, and he flipped thru until he came to the comic section, and handed it to me.

We read for awhile, without talking much, until I remembered my clothes that needed washing.

"Do you think I could go to the laundromat?" I asked. "I'm pretty much down to nothing clean."

"We usually go on Sundays," he said, "but if you need to go, we can go today before rehearsal."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"A couple of streets over, just out of the residential district."

"If you tell me which way it is, I can go," I told him, and Daniel lowered the newspaper to give me a

look.

"I don't want you goin' anywhere by yourself. Not the laundromat, not around the block, nowhere."

I wanted to ask why, but then I figured it must be because he didn't trust me or something, so I masked my hurt

feelings, and said, "Okay."

"This isn't like bein' at home," he went on. "This neighborhood definitely isn't like Murphys."

"You mean not safe?" I asked.

"No so much," he said, and I felt a little better then. It wasn't really that he didn't trust me, it was more that

he wanted me to be safe.

"Get your stuff gathered up, and we'll go here in a bit," he told me.

"Okay," I said, and went to do that.

We drove to the laundromat later, and after I'd started my clothes in one of the machines, I thought maybe we

could drive around a little, but Daniel said no, that we needed to wait right there until the clothes were done.

"How come?" I asked.

"When I first came to town, I left for an hour one time and when I came back, some fool had taken most of my clothes."

My eyes widened a little. "You're kidding!"

"Nope. I'm not kidding. Let me tell you somethin'. When you walk in with five pairs of britches, and walk back out with

none, it's an eye-opener."

I couldn't help a smile. "That's funny, though."

"Not true," he said. "Not a darn thing funny about it."

So we sat there while my clothes ran thru the wash cycle, people-watching. There was an amazing amount of people in and

out just in the time we sat there. One guy came in, and he didn't even have any laundry to do. He wandered around the room,

checking the pay phone and the machine that sells detergent for change that had been left. Then he sat over to the side, mumbling to

himself, and occasionally laughing. When he walked by us, the scent of marijuana floated off of him.

I nudged Daniel in the ribs. "He's gone out in space somewhere," I said, in a low voice.

"Yep."

When I'd switched my clothes to a dryer, and then sat back beside Daniel, the laundromat was clearing out a little. The man who talked to

himself checked all the places where loose coins might have been left again, and then flashed a peace sign at Daniel and I, and left, going

outside, where he nearly walked in front of an oncoming car.

"Wow," I said. "He acts sort of like the guy at the bus station. He looked like an old hippie, and he was so high that I think

somebody could have gotten a buzz just by standing next to him. He kept asking me to go to the diner across the street with him-"

That got Daniel's full attention directed at me, and I stopped talking, realizing my mistake. His eyes darkened a little.

"Tell me about it," he said, sounding irritable.

"Forget I said anything," I said.

"No. You wanted to tell it. So tell it," he said.

"The man who works there says he hangs around there a lot. He asked me to go eat with him," I said, hoping that

he would be satisfied.

"No clue," Daniel said, sounding mad. "You have no clue at all what could have happened to you!"

"I knew better than to go!" I protested.

"What do ya think you'd have done if he'd kept on asking? If he hadn't taken no for an answer?" Daniel demanded.

"I know what could have happened," I said quietly. "I do."

When he just gave me an almost-angry look and didn't say anything, I said, "I've learned my lesson, Daniel."

After a long moment, he sighed. "Alright. Do you have any other trip adventures that I need to be told about?"

"No."

He still looked irritated, and so I tacked on quietly, half-seriously, "Sir."

"Hmm." He leaned back a little in the chair, and clasped his arms behind his head, closing his eyes.

"I like that sir stuff," he said.

7