Marwan reached into his bag and pulled out the small envelope from Walgreens. The cop slid the prints out, flipped through them. “Who’s your friend?”

“Her name’s Eden,” Marwan said, feeling an odd thrill at saying it, hoping for an opportunity to lie and say she was his girlfriend. Wanting to try it on for size.

The cop handed the photos back and said, “We’ll be in touch.”

They left, and Marwan was alone with his father’s suspicious gaze. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Marwan almost laughed. He couldn’t even begin to count the things he wasn’t telling his father.

“Choosing a spouse is the most important decision of your life.”

“I’m not choosing a spouse, Dad.”

His father had a way of making a lot of things bigger deals than they were. At least for a little while before he recalibrated.

“We’re friends.” Marwan sat. “She helped the other night. Remember? The eggs?”

“This student who accused you of bringing a bomb. What does he look like?”

“Can we not do that right now, Dad?”

“They do it! He saw you, he saw a terrorist. You had a piece of plastic, and he thought it was a bomb.”

“I know what happened. I was there. He was probably, just, scared. Everybody’s scared. All the time.”

“Are you? Scared all the time?”

Marwan had said too much and had to tread carefully, he now realized. “Today was not a great day, that’s all.”

“I’m just not sure this place feels like home anymore,” his father said.

Marwan felt some kind of small breakage in his heart, like an egg cracking just the tiniest bit. But he couldn’t fall apart, couldn’t shatter. “It’s been a strange day,” he said. “A long week. This will all pass.”

His father nodded, but he didn’t look like he believed a word of it.

Eli

ELI

On the walk home from the restaurant, with the device in his bag listening, he told Eden about the guy across the street from school and how it was not a good lead.

“That’s gross,” Eden said. “But not surprising.”

“It’s not?”

She gave him a funny look. “You’ve met men, right?”

“Not all guys are creeps.”

“I know.”

“Marwan doesn’t seem like one,” Eli said.

“No,” she said. “He doesn’t.”

“Anyway, this guy said he thought he saw a bird fly into the music room last week.”

“Random.”

“Yeah,” Eli said. “But he didn’t see anyone in the room before us. I mean, he wasn’t sure he was looking or whatever so he’s basically no help at all.”

“Well, it was a good lead to follow, but now we’re spinning our wheels,” Eden said, “and I honestly don’t see the point.”