“Smoking section?” Zadie said, not looking up from her menu.

“Yup.”

“Do you want to move tables?”

“Nah. It’s going away already.” She smiled distractedly.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Today was a bust. I figured you’d be disappointed.”

“I am disappointed.”

“Yeah.”

“But I’m not giving up.”

“Okay.”

The sisters watched each other, unblinking, for a few moments.

“Do you know what you’re getting?” Finn said finally.

“Chicken-fried steak. You?”

“I’m gonna see what’s good here.”

Zadie flashed her a warning look. “Joel’s gonna be back any second.”

“I’m having a crappy day. The last thing I want is a bad lunch, too.”

“Ugh. Fine. But be quick.”

Finn relaxed her body and followed a memory that smelled like maple syrup.

Zadie was now alone at the table. She held her breath, hoping no one would notice her sister’s glassy expression.

Unfortunately for her, Joel did. “What’s wrong with Finn?”

Zadie jumped and looked over her shoulder to find him standing behind her. “Uh. Nothing. She’s fine,” she stammered. “Just meditating, again. It’s weird-looking, I know. She gets really into it.”

Joel wasn’t buying it. “I don’t think meditation means what you think it means.” He sat down next to Zadie and waved a hand in front of Finn’s face, but she didn’t so much as blink. Joel’s face turned suddenly serious. It was an expression Zadie had seen on him on only two, maybe three occasions in all the time she’d known him. “I think she’s having a seizure.”

“It’s not a seizure.”

“Yes, it is. My cousin used to have these all the time. He didn’t shake or anything. He just looked like a zombie.”

“It’s not that.”

“How do you know?” Joel’s voice climbed in agitation. “We should call an ambulance.” He started to stand to flag down the waitress, but Zadie yanked him back by the arm.

“No!” she snapped, attracting the stares of the couple at the table next to theirs. She continued in a whisper, “We can’t call an ambulance because she’s not sick.”

“Then what is she?”

Zadie caught the eye of their waitress, who was making a beeline for their booth. She turned back to Joel. “Give me your hat.”

Joel instinctively dodged her reach. “Why?”

“Just give it to me.”

Moments before the waitress arrived, Zadie had pulled Joel’s hat snugly over Finn’s head, adjusting the brim so it hid her sister’s haunted-doll stare.

“How we all doing?” the waitress asked with a pleasant smile.

“Great,” Zadie answered stiffly, while Joel simply stared at the waitress, wide-eyed. Unnerved by Joel’s gaze, she refilled their waters quickly and bustled on to the next table.