Some of the lamps are burned out, so the fluorescent light is crepuscular. The radio is off, the phone’s not ringing, the computers are sleeping. Occasionally the plumbing makes a noise from somewhere else in the building. Traffic hisses intermittently, softly. The turtle scrapes on its floating rock a few times, then settles back into silence. A sliver of light glows under the door like a one-dimensional sunset or a distant supernova glimpsed over the horizon of a giant, forlorn planet. Out in the corridor, the elevator door chunks open, then shut. Footfalls slowly crescendo, then pause, interrupting the line of light under the door. Not even breathing can be heard. Then the footfalls go away again, on down the corridor. The previous state of not-quite-quiet returns. Gwen and Mary finally exhale, red-faced, hearts pounding so hard their eardrums can feel the blood squishing rhythmically. Who decides what's perverse? It's not like she had a tendency to shit on the bathroom floor, like Zombie Boy. Why weren't they talking about him? Oh yeah, because he was supposed to act that way. He was an established fact. He had an excuse. The idea even of the jonquil festival--it wasn't even special; everybody had Jonquils this time of year. They couldn't come up with anything unique or special, but they still had to have a festival she guessed. It was like having a dandelion fair, or a cat hair celebration. Lame. The Jonquil Festival. (the boy thought of it as something pretty special) It evoked no similar term in her own mind; ... her memory of the so-called event comprised a few dank buds hanging limply, in a few stands next to the gas station by the highway. I feel like I abandoned Gwen and Mary, and that makes me feel empty and rueful and a little self loathing. It is kinda like the way a day spent obsessing about cameras makes me feel--when I look back and feel like I pushed the girls away subtly. Mary’s dad is literally a dwarf. Also he has crutches and sometimes even a wheelchair. Occasionally he can get by with just a cane. Also he sells donuts at fairs and carnivals and festivals and such.