“How about we all sit? Before the mess of it gets cold. Or warm, I guess. Depending.” Gloria sounded just like a breeze making the curtains shiver. “I’ve been slaving all afternoon.”

I sat next to Rowan. He still didn’t say nothing. But I swung my feet back and forth to make some noise. Rowan scritched at a new bit of his map growing on his arm. His islands always started out pink and sore. Then they turned white. That was exciting. To see what shape it was. Once after school last year Rowan took me to the library. Mrs. Spooner pulled out a bunch of geography books for us and we traced some of Rowan’s spots. We found out he got a part of Hawaii near his eye. And some place called Baffin Island outside his elbow. Iceland was coming out the back of his neck. Mrs. Spooner smiled a lot at us and said, “You two are most wonderfully inventive!”

Gloria put her hand on her chest. “Isn’t this just perfect, Telly? All of us having a family meal together. Like it’s supposed to be.”

Telly smiled and reached for the ribs. He used a fork instead of his fingers. “God, Glow. Some spread you put out.” I couldn’t help staring at him. I almost didn’t know who he was. His face was nice and brown. His teeth were bits of sun caught in his mouth. Even his shirt had no dirt. I think someone might have used an iron on it. Or maybe it was new too, like Gloria’s dress. His fingernails were still black though, like they always were. Parts of him were still Telly.

Gloria plopped potato salad on Rowan’s plate. Rowan stabbed at it. The fork’s sharp parts made a scrape. I got the shivers.

“Your hair looks good, Glow. That color really suits you.”

“You think?” She patted her head. “Sometimes you just see someone and think, I could do that. You get inspired, right?”

“Right about that,” he said. He took more ribs.

“So, how’s work? Garage is busy, I’ll bet.”

“Summer always is, Glow. People getting away, wanting their cars tip top.” Red sauce was smeared on his chin and strings of rib meat hung down from his fancy teeth. He looked better then. More like himself. “It’s an honest day’s work.”

Rowan coughed, but not a real cough. Then he said to Telly, “Still playing old women?” He sounded mad and his plate was still full.

“What’s that, Row?”

“Old women,” he said. “Playing old women.”

Gloria coughed then. I don’t think that was a real cough neither. “More ribs, Telly? We got plenty. A real heap.”

“What’s he saying, Glow?”

“You heard me. Running your scams.” Rowan laughed in a not good way. My heart started to go tak-tak-tak.

“Rowan. Please.”

My air stopped coming in. This was turning terrible.