It was like running in a nightmare. Running and running, and are you even moving? For a crazy moment I thought about going to my dad’s instead. I was with him part of the time, once in a while. I was back and forth, so why not now? He had an apartment in White Plains, and I could double back to the station and take the next train. Be there for breakfast. But I didn’t have any money, so I just kept running, numb all the way home. A car turned ahead of me under a streetlight. In case it was a police cruiser I jumped into a bush with branches like claws. I was on Linden Street before I knew it. We lived in the Groveland, a big old apartment building that had gone condo. It was on the edge of the Old English Village part of town. Now I was walking, breathing in heaves, almost home. I’d brought my keys. I was well supplied with keys that night. So I could get into the lobby downstairs. The front door snapped shut behind me. On the long table a big bowl still held some Halloween candy.
