“Let’s go, Einstein.”

“Don’t call me that, Lars.”

“Ooo, touchy.” Lars widened his eyes at Ryder and Helena. “Must be all those autographs he had to sign. Right, Einstein?” Lars reached for the coil of wire but Leo jerked it out of his hand and whipped it down at his feet. Lars stood there a half-second, the wire uncoiling on the ground, then he charged at Leo but Ryder jumped in and wedged his shoulder up against Lars’s chest.

“Ease it down, buddy. C’mon, ease it.”

“That little dogshit.”

Leo stood there, his hands in loose fists. Lars’s eyes were pooled up from drinking and he wasn’t taking them off Leo, but he wasn’t pushing much against Ryder anymore either. Then his smooth face broke open into a drunk grin, and he stepped away and belched.

Ryder’s hat was pushed way back on his head. He looked at Leo and rolled his eyes in the car’s direction.

“I’ll walk.” Leo unbuckled his harp bandolero, rolled it up, and walked around to the front of the theater. Ahead of him was the long row of streetlights lit all the way down Paper Boulevard, not a single one broken, and after the stores and Esso station, the woods looked thick and dark on both sides of the road. A few cars rolled by, and Leo felt like he was seeing it for the first time, Paper Boulevard at night; it was so straight and dry and well lit, so safe from the wild on both sides of it, but even with a car or two going down it, it felt empty, only half used, if that, and it hit him that these same lights would probably still be on when somebody from the army came for him in the morning. He wished he could go there instead, just leave tonight and walk right down this street that’s lit up way more than it has to be. He’d foot it all the way to Springfield and he wasn’t sure if he would even have a harp with him; he felt like hiding all the ones he carried now. When a station wagon or truck passed by he didn’t turn his face to it, and he held his harness tight under his left arm like it was nobody’s business.

Tonight, he’d played everything he knew. He didn’t have a note left in him; he’d emptied himself out in public and he almost felt ashamed, like he’d confessed things about himself nobody had asked to hear. Leo heard the tap of a car horn and he looked over and saw his father driving back towards Saunders Hill. Ryder and Helena probably had to bring Lars and his equipment to the club. Leo didn’t feel right about having thrown the mike wire like he did; Lars never called anybody by their real name. Jim slowed the car and pointed his finger over the steering wheel towards home. Leo nodded and waved and watched the Valiant pull away.