"Why should I give warning? He is pursuing someone else." Maggie asks genuinely. Her nose suddenly starts to bleed again and a spot of blood drops on to the back of John's hand. She reaches past him for the handkerchief at her bedside. "Sorry."
"Anyway. Alyssa can copy off of my math test. That is no problem."
A sympathetic frown at her nosebleed; another pause to let her wipe her face before he continues.
“At a slumber party, your gang starts up a no-holds-barred session of Truth or Dare. Someone dares you to strip naked and run through the sprinklers, even though it’s past midnight and below -15 degrees outside. You:
- bust off your flannels and pray your chest cold doesn't escalate to a lethal case of pneumonia. - quit. You've always hated that game anyway. - quickly switch to truth--you'd prefer to be tortured at room temperature, thank you.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose and leans forward slightly so that the blood drains in to her hanky instead of down her throat. She is not trying to be funny but when she answers her voice is nasally and jumbled, which undercuts the seriousness with which she attempts to deliver her response.
"I am not going barren to win a slumber party game. I would quit."
Absently, he places his hand on her shoulder, rubs back and forth slightly—trying to provide what comfort he can for her nose.
“Last one, Maggie. A fortune-teller on the street calls out to you that she has news that will ease your mind. You have been really anxious lately, so you:
- stop in your tracks and head over to her. But you're disappointed to learn that she wants money first. - ask for a price list and what kind of readings she gives. - ignore her. You heard about those fortune-telling scam artists on 60 minutes just a few weeks ago.”
Oh, I really am a sucker, Maggie thinks. She should not be soothed by the touch of a man who has spent the past year ignoring her, the past month and a half bickering with her, and the past three weeks haunting (yes, haunting) her dreams. But she is soothed. She likes it a lot when he runs his hand over her back. It makes her brain feel heavy and slow, like a big dumb animal.
She releases the pressure on her nose a little so that she can speak more clearly.
"Um, I would take a reading if she seemed legit. I would be able to tell. So, the middle one, I guess."
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11/12, bite ward
"Anyway. Alyssa can copy off of my math test. That is no problem."
11/12, bite ward
“At a slumber party, your gang starts up a no-holds-barred session of Truth or Dare. Someone dares you to strip naked and run through the sprinklers, even though it’s past midnight and below -15 degrees outside. You:
- bust off your flannels and pray your chest cold doesn't escalate to a lethal case of pneumonia.
- quit. You've always hated that game anyway.
- quickly switch to truth--you'd prefer to be tortured at room temperature, thank you.”
11/12, bite ward
"I am not going barren to win a slumber party game. I would quit."
11/12, bite ward
“Last one, Maggie. A fortune-teller on the street calls out to you that she has news that will ease your mind. You have been really anxious lately, so you:
- stop in your tracks and head over to her. But you're disappointed to learn that she wants money first.
- ask for a price list and what kind of readings she gives.
- ignore her. You heard about those fortune-telling scam artists on 60 minutes just a few weeks ago.”
11/12, bite ward
She releases the pressure on her nose a little so that she can speak more clearly.
"Um, I would take a reading if she seemed legit. I would be able to tell. So, the middle one, I guess."
"What does that make me?"
11/12, bite ward
“You are not a sucker. But you have sucker tendencies.”
Stands up, stretches his hip briefly, returns to his cot.
“Be careful.”