That’s what Mom was going to tell me after I burned the bakery down, wasn’t it? That was the talk we were going to have the next day, the one where I wouldn’t like what I was going to hear. Mom wasn’t mad at me at all. She was mad at Pop.

“You can hate me all you want, Buddy,” said Pop. “We got years and years for that kind of thing. And it’s okay, I deserve it. But for now, we got to go, and quick.” He grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the back of Marina’s. “There’s a side door, a whole escape route I figured. If we hustle we can clear the swamp in a few days, take to the road after that. Any luck, we can get free. Any luck we’ll be clear before Boss Authority knows otherwise.”

“What about Tally?” I said.

“She’ll be fine,” said Pop. “Marina will take good care of her, won’t you, Marina?”

“Now just wait one second,” said Marina.

“No time, no time!” said Pop.

“But what about the swamp?” I said. “What about all the folks getting taken by Boss Authority? What about everyone who’s gonna suffer after he gets all his power?”

“Right now, Buddy,” said Pop, “my only concern is you. Call it selfish, call it good parenting, call it whatever you want. I got one duty as a parent, and that’s to get you to safety.”

I yanked my hand from his and stood tall as I could to face my daddy, to stare him right in his eyes.

“Well you already blew that,” I said. “You blew that five years ago. I don’t think you got any right to tell me what to do anymore. I don’t think you got any right to say a single word to me one way or the other.”

Pop looked like I’d just sucker punched him one in the gut. He looked grizzled and tired, and for just one second that sparkle left his gold tooth and his smile failed, it withered right there on his face. I saw him clearly then, maybe for the first time. How skinny he’d gotten, how haggard and hungry. How his hair was thinning in the front, all the scars on his arms, a fresh gleaming one on his cheek. Pop was old, he was, and he looked beaten. He wasn’t one bit the legend I’d made him in my mind. No sir, my daddy was a person, same as any other. A sorry person, at that. I’d never seen a sadder sight in all my life.

The dog-looking fella leapt onto his feet and gave a growl.

“What are you smelling, Harlen?” said Marina. “What do you sniff out there on the wind?”

“Must be the pursuers!” said Lawrence. “Up, up Johnson! We may yet be of use!”

The two old fellas hobbled to their feet and the piano player got to hammering away and my daddy stood stock-still, a look of terror on his face like I’d never seen before once in my whole life. Tally grabbed my hand and I held hers tight, grateful for her yet again, grateful to feel the little hairs sprouting up on her palm as the spider in her began to show itself.