A commercial came on and Billy got up to get something to eat. He had been glued in front of the TV set for most of the past three days, and though he enjoyed watching the shows, he was starting to feel a little restless and stir-crazy. He also felt a little guilty. His parents had never let him watch this much television before, and he could not help feeling that he was doing something wrong, that he should be doing something productive instead of wasting his time vegetating in front of the tube.

But his parents didn’t seem to care. They were too preoccupied with other matters. His dad had not even commented when he’d walked through the house a few minutes ago, had not even seemed to notice that he was there.

Billy made himself a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, then moved back into the living room and sat down in his chair before the TV. He had tried finding other things to do the past few days, but had been spectacularly unsuccessful. He had called everyone he’d known, asking if they wanted to go biking or go swimming or come over to The Fort, but his friends either weren’t home or didn’t want to talk to him. He had ridden by himself to the hill above the dig, but he knew without venturing down the slope that the archaeology students had gone, that the dig was over. He had pedaled as quickly as he could back toward home. The hill frightened him.

He wondered what Lane was doing.

He found himself thinking a lot about Lane lately, wondering how this estrangement could have happened to the two of them. He was aware that friendships often ended quickly and bitterly. He remembered how he and Frank Freeman, his best friend from fourth grade, had broken up after a relatively minor argument, and how alliances were quickly shifted, effectively redrawing the social map of the playground. He and Frank had ended up enemies, hanging out with rival factions of students, never missing an opportunity to hurt each other as deeply as possible.

And no one knew how to hurt more than an ex-friend.

But he and Lane had been buddies for a long time, had weathered fights both minor and major, and had still remained friends. It was hard to believe something like this could happen.

But Lane had changed.

A lot of people had changed.

The Brady Bunch ended and Billy switched the channel to the Flagstaff station to watch Bewitched.

He finished his sandwich, wiped his hands on his pants. He had never thought this was possible, had never thought this would happen, but for the first time in his life he was looking forward to the end of summer. He could not wait for the start of school.