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Annie dragged them into her house. Rushed them through the living room and up to her bedroom. Mr. Watanabe was eating lunch in the front room.

Good God.

Does he look like Toji too?

What do you think?

Walt stared warily at Annie’s pink-and-green bedroom. Her walls were covered in film posters and photographs she’d taken. There was a mountain of fabric scraps next to her sewing machine and clothes all over the floor. It was a mess, but a good-smelling mess.

Hollis pushed some of the debris off her bed and sat down.

Annie was struggling with her pa’s violin case.

“Here, let me—” Walt grabbed it from her delicately. “You sure your old man’s not bothered we’re touchin’ this?”

“He hasn’t touched it himself in, like, ten years,” Annie said.

Hollis watched as Walt took the violin out and brushed the dust off it with one of Annie’s loose bundled-up socks. He tuned it, checked the bow for damage, and then scrubbed at the strings with some small block.

“No promises if it squeaks. Y’all took awful care of this.”

Walt settled their face in the chin rest and put the bow to the strings.

Hollis didn’t expect the vibration and how it buzzed through their jaw. Didn’t expect his arm to ache deep in the bicep from the awkward angle. Didn’t expect the homesickness that welled up in their chest until their throat got tight and their stomach felt like it was full of bees.

Annie was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes lingering on Hollis’s flying fingers. She looked a bit disturbed.

What song is this?

“Road to Lisdoonvarna.” I used to play it after dinner oftentimes. Not a perfect rendition.

How could your family afford a violin, aren’t they like a bajillion dollars?

My grandfather made them. The strings and some parts of the bow we had to order in. But wood and metal were plenty.

“I can see you talking,” Annie murmured. “Now that I know what to look for. Your eyes kind of... dim. It’s more obvious when you’re caught off guard though.”

Walt gritted their teeth and finished the piece. He didn’t like feeling like a specimen.

“I think I get what you meant when you said ‘he’s a person,’ Hollis.” Annie leaned back and put her hands behind her head. “It’s weird but you’re definitely two different guys in one guy. So, what are you going to do?”

“I... I don’t know. Go home or something? I’m not due back until later so—”

“You can stay for dinner, sleep over, it’s whatever. But I mean, what are you going to do about Rose Town?”

Walt put the violin back in its case.

“We haven’t decided.”