He’s afraid Karen won’t show, Friday, in the library, but there she is, on time, her head bent over her notebook, the sleeves of her jacket pushed to her elbows. Fine red hair on her arms. Morning, she says, gaze even, as careful as he is not to betray embarrassment. He sits. Trying not to yawn. Morning. Karen scratches a bad pen against her paper, sighs, digs in her bag for a new one. Mascara thickening the corners of her pale lashes. Who does she put that poison on for? Or is it to hide something, like his hood, a mask, don’t look at me. She spreads her hands over her notebook and he sees that there are little white spots on the cuffs of her jacket where there used to be dark marks, the blue fibers frayed as if she had scrubbed them with a stiff brush. He looks at a textbook but his eyes won’t stay open; now that he knows she’s okay exhaustion hits him like a brick. Xie, she says. He straightens. Mm. Mouth dry. He rubs it on his sleeve. Did you get any sleep? A little, he mumbles. Palming the side of his face. Feels the hammer in his hand. Hammer a part of him. The smell of the woods on his clothes, does she notice? Karen taps his wrist with her pen. Drink some water, she says. He pushes up from the chair, drags to the fountain, drinks, comes back. They look at each other. So, she says. What are we doing today. He shrugs. I meant to bring that book FKK got me but I forgot it at home. Have you read it? Some of it, yeah. Well, when you remember to bring it I’d be happy to look at it with you. A silence. She rubs her neck. He puts his head on his outstretched arm and she nudges it with her elbow. He grunts, sits up. Why so sleepy, hm, she says. Busy, he says. With what? With stuff, he says, head tipped back to the ceiling, staring at the water stains there. Did you like school, he asks. Karen shrugs. In a way. It was something I knew how to do. Kind of the opposite of you. But did you believe in it? Believe in it in what way? That it was good or. Worth your time. She snorts. I would say it was an entirely amoral practice, Xie. It was what I could do so I did it. Xie looks at her. Smiles. Pretty lame coming from a teacher. Well, I’m the worst teacher and you’re the worst student, so. We’re even. They sit. Can we go for a walk? he says. Where? I don’t know. Shrugs. Woods? he suggests. What woods? He nods his head in the direction of the birch. She checks her watch. Sighs. Sure, why not. They leave their things on the table. Greg watching them go. She zips her jacket to the neck even though it’s sixty degrees out.