"I said I'd drawn it from my imagination. Also that it was none of his business and if he ever went through my stuff again, I'd leave home." She cleared her throat. "There was some shouting involved."

"When did this happen?"

"Today. He showed up and pulled me out of school last period. Sorry. I'm grounded for a month. He suspects somethingI have to come straight home after school and check in with him by phone at work. Can't go anywhere. He'll probably spot check with phone calls."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll stick it out. My mother's upset, but a bit more at him, I think. I know they they did it in high school. He's a hypocrite. She's the one who made sure I had condoms when I entered high school." did it in high school. He's a hypocrite. She's the one who made sure I had condoms when I entered high school."

"Oh, yeah? I knew I liked her." I tried to keep my voice light but I felt like crying. I couldn't imagine not seeing her for an entire month.

"Yeah. We fought like wildcats when I was in middle school but we've come to a pretty good place now. But I'm not speaking to Dad. I predict two weeks, tops, then he'll cave. Maybe even sooner."

That wasn't quite as bad. "Will I be able to call you?"

"Hmmm. I don't see why not. We've got call waiting. He'll know you called, thoughhe'll check the numbers when he gets homeso make sure it's from San Diego San Diego, right?"

"Right."

I heard a noise in the background. "They're calling me for supper. Gotta go." "Okay. Je t'aime." Je t'aime." "d.a.m.n straight," she said. "d.a.m.n straight," she said.

I did laundry. The sheets needed changing. I bought more sheets, a nicer comforter, more pillows. She'd complained about my not having music, so I bought a large portable stereo, one that could run off my twelvevolt power system, and a selection of CDs. I stocked up on her favorite diet cola and some snacks, healthy and otherwise. She liked those weird rice cakes, the ones that are like Styrofoam, so I bought a case of those.

I bought a better portable toilet for my bathroom nook, one that used chemicals to keep the smell down. I could still dump it in the same pit toilet at the park picnic area and it had a nicer seat.

I added two more solar water heaters for the shower back in Oaxaca Oaxaca.

Well, that killed three days.

My side was getting better. While no longer tender, it pulled when I moved my upper body, so I began doing some stretches.

I bought a heavy bag and a stand for it, but it wasn't stable on the uneven floor of the cave, so I ended up setting it in concrete. After a few days of hitting this, I also went back to the makiwara makiwara in the in the Empty Quarter Empty Quarter. One of them had been taken, maybe used for firewood, and I had to reset a couple of the others that had come loose in the soil.

My left side was weak, the tugging from the scar profound. I doubled up on that side, both the stretches and the strikes, and there was some improvement.

I talked to E.V. every weekday afternoon.

"Now he's even more suspicious. He's wondering why you weren't calling before and now you are."

"Oh, great. Should I stop?"

"h.e.l.l, no! But if this keeps up, I'm thinkin' you might join me in the afternoons. I mean, I've I've got a bed." got a bed."

"I've never been in your room. In fact, it was only that one day that I was in your housewhen I brought the sketch and then later, when I met Patrick and Booger."

"Yeah? What does that mean?"

"I can't jump without a clear memory. I mean, I can jump someplace I can see, but otherwise I really need to be familiar with it. That's why I have all those sketches."

"Hmm. Well, I'm really getting desperate, if you know what I mean."

"Believe me, I know." know."

At three weeks, her father relented.

I met her at our usual spot and we went straight to the Hole. She approved of the pillows and the comforter and the toilet but I don't think she noticed until after the second time.

"Oh, G.o.d. I needed that. Boy, did I need that." She poked at my arm. "You've been exercising."

"Yeah. Especially my right arm."

We showered together in Oaxaca Oaxaca, washing each other slowly. The temperature was just right.

After we were dressed, we sat in the sun on the beach below, me on a rock and her in the sand at my feet. I brushed her hair until it was dry.

I left her in our corner of MercerCemetery MercerCemetery. I wanted to walk her home but she kissed me and said, "No. Not when you're supposed to be in San Diego San Diego. See you Thursday!"

She was there on Thursday but pale.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, I've got a headache," she said. "But I've also got some good news. I told them I'd be out until nine. Some friends of mine are playing the Teen Club. We're to lend moral support. They're not that good a band but they play really loud."

I was stunned by the good fortune. "That's almost six hours!"

"Well, we do have to actually go to the clubbut I don't intend to get there until seven at the earliest." She looked anxious. "That okay?"

"You're not worried someone will see me and tell your parents?"

"I want to dance with you."

"Have you seen seen me dance? Anyway, we can find places to dance far from me dance? Anyway, we can find places to dance far from Trenton Trenton."

She shook her head. "I want want us to go." us to go."

"Claro que si! At your command. And what do we do before then?" At your command. And what do we do before then?"

"I don't know about you, but I want to screw."

There was something wrong. She was clinging to me hard, almost desperately.

"Are you all right?"

"Don't stop!" She buried her face in my chest and pulled me hard against her. The lights were dim but it seemed like her eyes were wet. She dug her nails into my back and I forgot everything but moving.

When she came it was loud, almost anguished, great shuddering gasps, and what little control I had went with it. I was drowsy and she pulled my head onto her shoulder. "Sleep. This once, we've got the time."

I thought it might still be her dad. It must be hard to have to lie to your parents. I worried for a moment that it might be me me but she was holding me close and stroking my back. but she was holding me close and stroking my back.

She woke me again later and we made love once more, long and lingering. Then she looked at her watch and said, "f.u.c.k. Quick shower?"

The sun was low in Oaxaca Oaxaca but the water was still warm and "quick" was the word, for the mosquitoes were coming out. but the water was still warm and "quick" was the word, for the mosquitoes were coming out.

The Teen Club was nearer the Delaware River, but still walkable, and while it was cold in Trenton Trenton, it wasn't as cold as it had been the week before. I was wearing my anorak but the minute we'd paid our cover and got inside, I took it off and carried it because the club, either from too much central heat or too many occupants, was like an oven, worse than Oaxaca Oaxaca.

Many of these kids clearly didn't use deodorant.

The band was was loud and they weren't terriblethree guys on drums, guitar, and ba.s.s, and three girls on vocals. They tended toward punk with industrial overtones and either the club had a full light setup or these kids had way too much money. There were strobes and motorized track lights and lasers and a smoke machine. loud and they weren't terriblethree guys on drums, guitar, and ba.s.s, and three girls on vocals. They tended toward punk with industrial overtones and either the club had a full light setup or these kids had way too much money. There were strobes and motorized track lights and lasers and a smoke machine.

Conversation was barely possible if you shouted or if you timed your sentences in the gaps. They sold refreshments but no alcohol. Most of the customers were under twentyone but some weren't, and there were chaperones, leaning against the walls, eyes moving restlessly. One of them had his fingers plugged firmly into his ears.

There were tables around the edge but they were all taken, either occupied or piled high with coats. I yelled in E.V.'s ear, "Why don't I drop our coats back at my place?"

"What?"

It took two more efforts to make her understand. "Oh! Okay." She took her pocketbook and something else out of her coat pockets before pushing the coat into my arms.

I wandered back toward the bathrooms, looking for an unoccupied corner, but there were kids making out in the dark hallway. The bathroom itself, though, was empty, and I jumped carefully.

To return I jumped back to an empty lot we'd crossed walking here. There was a streetlight but it had been smashed and I'd remembered being a little uncomfortable taking E.V. that route, picking my way across the junkstrewn ground.

By myself, I didn't care, even when I saw three guys moving from the edge of the lot into the middle, to block my way. I kept walking straight at them and when one of them lifted a pipe in his hand and said, "Stop," I just jumped past them, to the sidewalk at the corner.

One of them yelled and another was saying, "What the f.u.c.k!" over and over and over. I looked back and saw that they'd turned, perhaps having heard my footsteps on the walk, but they were making no move to follow.

I was still grinning when I showed the man at the door the stamp on my hand.

E.V. was standing near the refreshment bar juggling two drinks and her pocketbook. The dancing had spread and she was having a hard time keeping the drinks safe from flying arms and jumping bodies. She was watching the back hallway to the bathrooms, the direction I'd left, and her face was anxious, as if she was afraid I wouldn't come back or something.

I tapped her shoulder and she jumped. I'd swear she screamed but the music was so loud, it may have been just a gasp. Both drinks. .h.i.t the floor, though, together, spraying my legs and hers.

I did hear her say "f.u.c.k!" quite distinctlyit was one of those lulls in the music. "Sorry, sorry." She started to reach down but I caught her shoulder and stopped her. The floor was already littered with paper cups stamped flat by the dancers.

The band reached the end of one number and the drummer and the lead vocalists were discussing something off mike. In the momentary silence I said, "What are we drinking?"

"I got you a Sprite. You know what I had. And I dropped them both! Whatever you want."

I managed to place the order just before the band started up. Payment was successfully accomplished with hand signs. I delivered her diet soda and tried my coffee. It was in a Styrofoam cup, too hot to drink and, in this environment, potentially disastrous. First or seconddegree burns, I thought, and turned suddenly back toward the bar to get some cream or ice to cool it down.

He was older than the kids around him, dressed grunge, but he'd been stepping forward when I saw him, his left hand held out slightly, chest high, his other hand held low by his leg. He lunged as the stage strobes were flashing and the knife cut upward in discrete stopmotion steps.

I stepped back, b.u.mping someone dancing, and threw the coffee straight out. He jerked back, clawing at his face and shirt. There was other movement, sudden, not the puzzled reaction of bystanders but deliberate motion among the dancers, and I turned. E.V. was fumbling with something, but I grabbed her and jumped.

Electric current, burning, contracting my entire body. I spasmed away from E.V. The bright blue sky dimmed and flared. My hands scrabbled across gravel and sand but I couldn't make them do anything.

E.V. screamed, "No! No! NOOOOOOOOOr No! NOOOOOOOOOr I blinked hard trying to get my sight to behave. We were alone, in the Empty Quarter Empty Quarter. I thought she'd been attacked was being attacked. She was on her knees, on the ground, hunched over, holding herself up with extended arms. Her pocketbook had spilled open showing a cell phone and money and a smallunlabeled prescriptionmedicine bottle. There was a black cylinder, perhaps seven inches long, clutched in her other hand.

"I'm okay," I said. I wasn't that sure, but she was horribly upset. I wanted to rea.s.sure her.

"Take me back! Now!"

She was suddenly leaning over me, one hand grabbing my sweater, the other shaking the black cylinder in my face.

"What?" My muscles were starting to work again and I tried to sit up but she shoved me back down again. She was crying and she looked desperately afraid.

"TAKE ME BACK!".

She jammed the cylinder into my side and the current and the burning came again. My back arched so much my heels and head were the only thing touching the ground. This time I pa.s.sed out completely.

The sun was dropping below the horizon when I came to. E.V. was coming down the ridge, stumbling, tripping over rocks. She was crying, her eyes so filled with tears she could obviously hardly see.

I sat up. My muscles felt like I'd run a marathon, lactic acid soreness, and there was a burn on my side and another on my back, but I felt like I could jump if I had to.

She had the cell phone in one hand. I didn't see the black rod.

"I didn't know you had a cell phone," I said. I felt insane. Surely this is what a psychotic break is like ? Surely this is what a psychotic break is like ?

She stopped, then threw the phone onto the sand between us. "It's not mine. It belongs to them." them."

Oh, f.u.c.k.

She pulled the black rod out of her back pocket and I tensed, but she threw that down, as well. "And that. And those pills." She gestured to where her purse still lay. "I dropped the drink. Why'd I drop the drink? It would be over if I hadn't dropped the drink!"

I looked back at the purse, at the pill bottle. "What kind of pill was it?"

She looked away. "They said it would knock you out. So they could catch you." She looked back at me and winced. "Yeah, I know. If you'd jumped it wouldn't do any good, even if you pa.s.sed out after. It had to be poison."

"You knew that?" It felt like my face was going to break. "You knew that and .. . maybe that's why you dropped it." Then the rest of it hit me. "They have your parents." I didn't ask itI said it.

She dropped to her knees. "They killed killed my father. They cut his f.u.c.king throat right in front of me! And then they put the knife against my mother's neck!" my father. They cut his f.u.c.king throat right in front of me! And then they put the knife against my mother's neck!"

"Oh, G.o.d. I'm so sorry." I got up and walked over to her but she shoved me away. She kicked at me and clawed and I stepped back, then dropped down and sat on my heels. "How did they find you? Was it me? Did they track some of my jumps in Trenton Trenton?"

She was lying on her side, curled in. "He did it! G.o.dd.a.m.n him. He He did it. He wanted to check up on you. After he found that sketch, he got a friend to run a criminal check. They showed up with police badges and he answered did it. He wanted to check up on you. After he found that sketch, he got a friend to run a criminal check. They showed up with police badges and he answered all all their questions. He gave you to them on a silver platter and then they cut his their questions. He gave you to them on a silver platter and then they cut his throat. throat. Daddy, you Daddy, you idiotl idiotl The f.u.c.king phone won't get a signal! Oh, G.o.d. They'll kill them both!" The f.u.c.king phone won't get a signal! Oh, G.o.d. They'll kill them both!"

Oh. "They have your brother, too." "They have your brother, too."

She screamed again and pounded the ground with her fists.

I understood, then. "You went up on the ridge to try and get a signal. If you'd reached them, what would you have done? Come down and finished me? Wait until they came and confirmed my death?"

She jumped up and ran down the arroyo, north. She was still sobbing. I pocketed the phone and, cautiously, the black cylinder, then took up her purse. I let her get about fifty yards away and tripped her, appearing beside her path with my foot outstretched. While she was still down, I hooked the waistline of her jeans and jumped her back to the Hole.

She looked at the bed and collapsed on the floor, sobbing, sobbing.

I couldn't stand it and I jumped away, to the Greenwood Sh.e.l.l petrol station across from her high school. There, in the light of the fluorescents, I looked at the rod. It had four projecting electrodes, sharp, for sticking through clothing, and a slide switch, like on an electric torch. I turned it on, but it didn't spark, so I suspected it was actuated when a partial conductor bridged the points.

I took out the cell phone and called, using the only number in the cell phone's call log.