They were just past Loch Lomond when London remembered they didn’t have their passports, so they drove back to Victor Street and London made her grandmother stay in the car while she went to get them. While she was home she decided to pack some extra clothes for herself, and for Nana, and maybe some snacks, too? At the last minute she went into the drawer next to the fridge and grabbed an envelope of American money that her mother kept hidden under the phone book, just in case.

And then London turned around and Nana was standing in the doorway. “London, dear,” she said. “Where are you going with all that stuff?”

“Uh, Duluth?” London said.

Nana nodded. “Okay, then. Have fun!”

And so London had to explain everything again, and Nana said the same things that she had said before. She agreed that they definitely should go to Duluth as soon as possible, but they should wait until tomorrow morning because the weather that night was going to be bad. London was annoyed, but she knew she shouldn’t push it or else Nana might change her mind or tell someone, and then it would be all over.

The next morning, London watched out her bedroom window as her grandmother lugged a whisky barrel into the back of Papa’s truck and drove off. Of course she fucking forgot, she’s a fucking nutcase, she thought then, sitting back down at her desk. Now that she knows what happened, she wishes that she had had some nicer thought about Nana instead.

—

SHARKBOY: Did you ask her yet?

PONYO: No, she’s not here right now, surprise surprise.

PONYO: I’ll ask her tomorrow. But I’m nervous!

PONYO: She probably hates me.

SHARKBOY: Don’t be nervous. Who cares what she thinks.

SHARKBOY: You just need to get here, I can take care of everything after that.

PONYO: I’ll figure it out.

SHARKBOY: You’d better!

SHARKBOY: I don’t know how much longer I can go on without you.

PONYO: Whatever.

SHARKBOY: It’s true.

PONYO: WHATEVER!

SHARKBOY: You’re cute.

—