“
He's right,you know," Edward was saying almost before I'd made it into my room. I had crept through the house unnecessarily. No one was home.
"Your assertions have lost a bit of their value these days, Mr. Willing."
"You know," he repeated.
I tossed my coat onto the bed. The stark black and white of my quilt was broken by a purple stain now, the result of a peaceful interlude with grape juice turning into a gentle wrestling match.The stain was the size of my palm and shaked like, I thought, an alligator. Alex insisted it was a map of Italy. Later, we'd dripped the rest of the juice onto the thick pages of my drawing pad, finding pictures in the splotches like the Rorschach inkblots used in psychology.
"Well," he'd said in response to my pagoda, antheater, and Viking, "verdict's in.You're nuts."
The pictures were tacked to my wall, unaccustomed spots of color. I'd penciled in our choices. Viking (E), pineapple (A). Lantern (E), cheese (A). Crown (E), birthday cake (A) were over my desk, over Edward.
I turned on my computer. It binged cheerfully at me. I had mail.
From: abainbr@thewillingschool.org
To: fmarino@thewillingschool.org
Date: December 15, 3:50 p.m.
Subect: Should you choose to accept...
Tuesday. I'll pick you up at 10:00 a.m. Ask no questions. Tell no one.
-Alex
"Ah, subterfuge" came from over the desk.
"Shut up, Edward," I said.
”
”