Foster was eating sunnyside eggs and toast, his legs scissoring back and forth in satisfaction and for the faint rub of his penis against his trousers, thinking of Judith Beebie who this moment he was sure still lay sleeping in her bed in Bethlehem, the all of her in a loose nightgown. He could not imagine that she might sleep without clothes of any sort as he did because he could not quite imagine what she would look like without clothes. What he liked to think about was getting her to go for a walk in the woods with him and Glow and Lovey. He was pretty sure she’d like Glow; he could not imagine anyone not. He couldn’t see a pretext for inviting her for such a walk and so he left it to chance, thinking if he spent enough time in the woods perhaps maybe he’d come across her. Sitting on a log because she liked it there. Maybe gathering wildflowers. She was a year older than he was, a galaxy. And he was left alone. Some skewed community knowledge of what his father was and what his mother had been and even the way he lived. Some distinction that set him apart. Possibly he was simply odd. A personality that would not fit in. Waiting to find that one who felt the same way about things. Ways he wasn’t even sure he could articulate but thought he would not need to. With the right one. Which brought him back around to Judith Beebie. Not that there had been any sign from her. What he thought was She just doesn’t know it yet.

He heard the car come in. He stood and moved the coffee over onto the hot side of the range. His erection subsided. He sat back at the table and mopped the eggstains up with toast. His father came up the steps into the kitchen, the screen door a weak slap behind him.

“Morning, Pop.”

His father looked at him. Jamie was beardstubbled, bloodshot, his frame soft within the wrinkles of his clothes, his movements slow, deliberate, slightly quaked and wavery. He looked around the room, back to Foster. “Why aren’t you in school?”

“Pop? What month is it?” Foster studied him.

His father ran a hand up over his face, pressed it against his eyes. “It’s August,” he said. “Only August.”

“You want something to eat? Some eggs? There’s coffee.”

Jamie shook his head. “I ate.”

“Maybe you’re not so old after all. Up all night.” Foster paused and then said, “Hope it was worth it.”