“You all right?”

He sighed. “I’m fine. I was high all day from last night. I don’t know what’s wrong with me now.”

“Did you talk to your mom?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Yeah. My old man is freaking out and taking it out on her. So she’s got that to worry about on top of being sick now.”

“He’s not hurting her.”

“Hell, no. I’d beat the shit out of him. He hit her once when I was fifteen and that was the last time he ever did.” Rubbing his eyes. “No, he’s just getting scared about what’s going on with her. And he’s fighting about stupid stuff, she says.”

“It’s probably all he knows to do.”

“Yeah. Well, he’s got to do better than this. I’m going home tomorrow after my exam.” They watched each other. Ben was considering something. He said, finally, “That’s why I had to say fuck it to summer school.”

That brought a heaviness to the room, and Ben opened his eyes again. Ronny kissed his face quietly and they held still. Ben said, “I’m staying all night tonight. That all right?”

“Yes.”

“I won’t see you for a few days. It’s going to drive me crazy if I can’t call.”

“I’ll talk to Miss Dee tomorrow. I promise.”

“Can’t we just get you a phone? I don’t have much money but I got enough for that.”

Without warning, the words that Ben was saying—as if it were perfectly natural for him to want to get Ronny a phone, so simple and clear, as if they had always been close like this—pierced Ronny all the way through. The feeling came so completely and penetrated so thoroughly he could not breathe, as if he were washed in the purest joy that contained the purest pain, and neither could ever be separated from the other. Whoever wanted to feel one had to feel both. For a moment, Ronny thought he understood his mother better. Following love, as she did, from one place to another. He was quiet, and Ben leaned up to look at him. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing at all.” His voice shaking. “Everything feels right, as a matter of fact.”

Ben pulled him tight again, lay there beside him. “I know. Just hush. Stay still.”

Ben was shaking some, and Ronny gripped him hard. “You feel it the same way I do,” Ronny said. “About not having time to waste.”

“What makes you think so?”

“That’s why you want me to get a phone.”

Ben considered the notion. “Maybe. Truth is, you little fucker, I want to be able to talk to you.”

“Okay,” Ronny said. “I’ll do it. What the hell. I’ll have a job, I’ll work it out.”

“I told you I’d give you the money. Don’t even fucking think about getting proud with me.”

“No. That’s fine. I’ll need help if I’m going to do it now.”

“Mom wants me to bring you home for a visit.”

“Yeah?”

“I keep talking about you, I guess. How you help me study. Stuff you say.” They were too close now for Ronny to see his expression. “I’d like to have you there.”