The Truth About Forever(35)

I have to get out of here, I thought, and stood up, pulling one of the curlers by my temple loose and dropping it on the bed. A single corkscrew curl dropped down over my eyes and I stared at it, surprised, as it dangled in my field of vision, the smallest part of me transformed. But I was leaving. I was.

My watch said 6:15. If I left now, I could get home in time to be back on my schedule as if I'd never strayed from it. I'd tell Kristy my mom had called me on my phone, saying she needed me, and that I was sorry, maybe another time.

I stood up, pulling another curler out, then another, dropping them on the bed as I hurriedly slung my purse over my shoulder. I was almost to the door when Kristy came back down the hallway, a small compact in her hands.

"This stuff is great," she said. "It's like an instant tan, and we'll just put it—"

"I've just realized," I said, plunging right in to my excuses, "I really think—"

She looked up at me then, her eyes widening. "Oh, God, I totally agree," she said, nodding. "I didn't see it before, but yeah, you're absolutely right."

"What?"

"About your hair," she said, as she came into the room. I found myself backing up until I bumped against the bed again. Kristy reached past me, grabbing a white shirt that was lying on one of the pillows and, before I could stop her, she'd slid my arm inside one sleeve. I was too distracted to protest.

"My hair?" I said, as she eased my other arm in, then grabbed the shirttails, knotting them loosely around my waist. "What?"

She reached up, spreading her fingers and pulling them through my hair, stretching out the curls. "I was going to brush it out, but you're right, it looks better like that, all tousled. It's great. See?"

And then she walked over to the closet door, pushing it shut, and I saw myself.

Yes, the jeans were faded and frayed, the heart on the leg crooked, too dark. But they fit me really well: they could have been mine. And the tank top was a bit much, glittering in so many places from the overhead light, but the shirt over it toned it down, giving only glimpses here and there. The shoes, which had looked dorky when I put them on, somehow went with the jeans, which hit in such a way that they showed a thin sliver of my ankle. And my hair, without the clear, even part that I worked so hard for every morning, drawing a comb down the center with mathematical precision, was loose and falling over my shoulders, softening my features. None of it should have worked together. But somehow, it did.

"See? I told you," Kristy said from behind me, where she was standing smiling, proud of her handiwork, as I just stared, seeing the familiar in all these changes. How weird it was that so many bits and pieces, all diverse, could make something whole. Something with potential. "Perfect."



It took Kristy considerably longer to assemble her own look, a retro sixties outfit consisting of white go-go boots, a pink shirt, and a short skirt. By the time we finally went out to meet Bert, he'd been waiting for us in the doublewide's driveway for almost a half hour.

"It's about time," he snapped as we came up to the ambulance. "I've been waiting forever."

"Does twenty minutes constitute forever now?" Kristy asked.

"It does when you're stuck out here waiting for someone who is selfish, ungrateful, and thinks the whole world revolves around her," Bert said, then cranked up the music he was playing—a woman wailing, loud and dramatic—ensuring that any retort to this would be drowned out entirely.

Kristy tossed her purse inside the ambulance, then grabbed hold of the side of the door, pulling herself up. The music was still going, reaching some sort of climax, with a lot of thundering guitars. "Bert," she yelled, "can you please turn that down?"

"No," he yelled back.

"Pink Floyd. It's my punishment, he knows how much I hate it," she explained to me. To Bert she said, "Then can you at least turn on the lights back here for a second? Macy can't see anything."

A second later, the fluorescent light over her head flickered, buzzed, and then came on, bathing everything in a gray, sallow light. It was so hospital-like I felt the nervousness that had been simmering in my stomach since we'd left the house—ambulance phobia—begin to build. "See, he'll do it for you" she said. She stuck out her hand to me. "Here, just grab on and hoist yourself up. You can do it. It's not as bad as it looks."

I reached up and took her hand, surprised at her strength as she pulled me up, and the next thing I knew I was standing inside the ambulance, ducking the low ceiling, hearing the buzz of that light in my ear. There was now an old brown plaid sofa against one wall, and a small table wedged between it and the back of the driver's seat. Like a traveling living room, I thought, as Kristy clambered around it, grabbing her purse on the way, and slid into the passenger seat. I sat down on the couch.

"Bert, please turn that down," Kristy yelled over the music, which was now pounding in my ears. He ignored her, turning his head to look out the window. "Bert. Bert!"

Finally, as the shrieking was reached a crescendo, Bert reached over, hitting the volume button. And suddenly, it was quiet. Except for a slow, knocking sound. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

I realized suddenly that the sound was coming from the back doors, so I got up, pushing them open. Monica, a cigarette poking out of one side of her mouth, looked up at me.