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I shrugged.

“It was to me.”

“I know a used car I could have bought with it.”

“How do you get to work and home?” I asked.

“The bus and some walking,” he said.

“I can take you home today. When are you off?”

“Oh, I have another four hours here yet,” he said.

“No problem,” I told him. “I have all the time in the world. I’m trying to avoid going home.”

He smiled.

“You and me both,” he said. He went back to work, and I thought he had forgotten what I offered. Later, after the girls had returned, he came over again and said, “Four-thirty.”

“I’ll be here,” I told him, and left the parlor, the girls trailing along.

“What was that all about?” Selma asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “I’m just giving him a ride home later. That’s all.”

“That’s far from nothing!” she cried.

I stopped and looked at her.

“Never let a boy think anything is big or important to you. Always make them feel inadequate. That way, when you do show some appreciation or excitement, they will be so grateful. Your trouble, Selma,” I added, “is you give it all away too easily and too quickly.”

“Me! You just gave away a ten-thousand-dollar bracelet like it was bubble gum.”

“That’s all it is, Selma. It’s just going to take you longer to find out than it took me,” I said.

She stopped grimacing and looked at the others, who were looking at me.

Was I really so different after all?

Why, I wondered, do I feel like I’m drifting away from everyone, even the friends I thought I liked?

Where was I drifting to? Where was I going?

4

Pushing String Uphill

I left the girls a little after four o’clock and waited for Del outside the pizza parlor. He looked surprised I was still there when he was ready to leave.

“You really want to take me home?” he asked.

“Why not?”

“I don’t live in the best of neighborhoods. I’ve seen your house from the outside.”

“It’s just a house,” I said.

“A very big house.”