The sixth-formers sat on the fabric couches at the far end with their friends fanned around them, the big plate glass windows reflecting it all and enlarging the space. All the clusters of kids seemed to be part of some unthinking biological process, and Ben had his place as a chip of bone or a wad of cartilage, and he stayed still and let people come up to him, and he could answer every one of their questions and seem gracious for asking questions back.

He had told the St. George’s kid to go fuck himself. He described the heat of the cast as it set. Some of Hutch’s friends, a few of them girls, were laughing and he didn’t have to guess when to laugh. Yeah, Ahmed was okay, and it seemed like Ennis was going to get away with it. He wished Alice were there but he was glad he wouldn’t have to perform for her.

And then it was time for check-in, and Ben laughed at all the clamoring for rides, Hutch included, and he ended up taking three sixth-formers who basically made it not a choice. In the cool air, overtaking all the surprised walkers, Ben was suddenly struggling to keep his head up. It was a fantastic feeling, because he knew that tonight he could finally release himself from the effort of trying to go to sleep.

He would open the window so the room would get cool. He’d hop over to the bunk and haul himself up and fold the blankets back and lie down, feeling the strange weight take his leg as though it were being pulled underwater. He’d answer a few of Ahmed’s questions. They wouldn’t mention the slight victim’s kinship they might have now, they’d just stop talking. Ahmed would get down to turn off the light. Ben would let sleep seep up into him like oil from the ground, and he’d sleep dark and well, at last.

*  *  *

Again he sat in the basement, now warm with the water pumping to all the clanking radiators. His heavy leg was stretched in front of him as he sat on the same chair and dialed the same number, hoping for his dad. They now had something else to talk about. It was his dad who picked up.

“Oh my god, kid, do you need us to come up?” His voice sounded okay.

“I’m all right. It’s just a little harder to get around. They gave me a golf cart, though, which is cool.”

“Nice!”

Ben paused. His dad wasn’t going to keep talking.

“It’s almost fun, though. Like, it’s a hassle and it hurt, but it’s sort of an event, you know? Like it’s…people have been nice. It’s not just the same routine.” He wanted his dad to ask him what he meant.

“Got it.”