Now Is Not the Time to Panic(63)

“Well . . . yeah. Them, too.”

It was dark, but there were those little glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, so many of them, like, we’d really let her go crazy with the glow stars, and I stared at them, the sky above us, the universe.

“Is it good to be a fugitive?” she finally asked.

“I think so,” I said. “It can be.”

“Good,” she finally said, and then she was fast asleep, unbothered. But I didn’t get up. Not just yet, but I knew I would.

Soon I would stand up and walk into the hallway and then into our bedroom, and into my own bed, with Aaron, and then the sun would come up, and light would fill the house, and I would wake up and things would go on from there. But right now, looking up at those stars that were not stars but more like stars than the real ones to me, I lay in that bed, breathing, alive. I said the line. Nothing had changed. I said it, and every single word was exactly the same, just as I had made it that summer. It would never change. So I said it again. And again. And again.





Acknowledgments


Thanks to the following:

Julie Barer, the most important person in my writing life, who has made so much possible for me, and everyone at the Book Group, especially Nicole Cunningham.

Helen Atsma, my editor extraordinaire, who helped me understand how to tell this story, and everyone at Ecco, especially Sonya Cheuse, Meghan Deans, Miriam Parker, and Allison Saltzman. I have been so lucky to be with Ecco from the beginning, and I cannot imagine where I would be without the support of this amazing publisher and these amazing people.

Jason Richman at United Talent Agency, for his kindness and support.

The University of the South and the English and Creative Writing departments, with gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of this community.

My family: Kelly and Debbie Wilson; Kristen, Wes, and Kellan Huffman; Mary Couch; Meredith, Warren, Laura, Morgan, and Philip James; and the Wilson, Fuselier, and Baltz families.

My friends: Brian Baltz, Aaron Burch, Sonya Cheuse, Lucy Corin, Lee Conell, Lily Davenport, Marcy Dermansky, Sam Esquith, Isabel Galbraith, Elizabeth and John Grammer, Jason Griffey, Brandon Iracks-Edeline, Kate Jayroe, Gwen Kirby, Shelley MacLauren, Kelly Malone, Katie McGhee, Matt O’Keefe, Cecily Parks, Ann Patchett, Betsy Sandlin, Matt Schrader, Leah Stewart, David and Heidi Syler, Jeff Thompson, Rufi Thorpe, Lauryl Tucker, Zack Wagman, and Caki Wilkinson.

And, as always, with all my love: Leigh Anne, Griff, and Patch.





About the Author


KEVIN WILSON is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Nothing to See Here, which was a Read with Jenna book club selection; The Family Fang, which was adapted into an acclaimed film starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman; and Perfect Little World; as well as the story collections Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, a winner of the Shirley Jackson Award; and Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine. His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, Southern Review, One Story, A Public Space, and Best American Short Stories. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons.

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