I did.
Susan seems to consider this.
I did. June wants to shout in the face of this maddening woman. I fucking did!
Who do you think took the bones?
How would I know?
Don’t you get it? It’s a cover-up. It’s all about…she points to the work below, her long skeletal finger quivering. And you, bringing a child into this world, after…after you let them—
After I let them what? June makes fists in her pockets. But she speaks calmly. You can’t change things. You tried. And look what happened.
You know what? That’s what they always say. But it’s not true. You can change things.
Susan’s cold, visceral stare reminds June of Rose. The way she seemed to be able to cut right through her.
I changed you, didn’t I?
You should probably go now, June suggests again, softly, desperately. She tugs down on her short tee. I’m sorry you went to jail, she says. But it wasn’t my fault.
Susan Proudfeather’s mouth twists. She’s going to say something horrible, June thinks. But instead, Susan pivots in her heavy boots and is gone.
June breathes, feels her body go limp as the dread drains out of her. She listens for the sound of the cab driving away. Then, slowly, carefully, she crouches down to inspect the damage.
Acknowledgements
I’m grateful to everyone at ARP, particularly editors Josina Robb and Kathleen Olmstead for their editing acumen and dedication to this book. Thank you, also, to Anne Collins for early commentary, and especially to Lauren Kirshner, whose insights were invaluable. For joining in on the crazy idea of serializing the novel online, thanks to my pals at Geist, SubTerrain, The New Quarterly, and Taddle Creek (Conan!) with a special shout-out to my friends and colleagues at Broken Pencil—Tara, Alison, and JV—for their help and support. Thanks to my parents, Sam and Nina Niedzviecki, for babysitting, crowd wrangling, and fancy socks! Finally, I am, as always, indebted to Rachel Greenbaum, for sticking with me through the long process of bringing another book into the world; I couldn’t have done it without her and I wouldn’t have wanted to anyway.
NICK KOZAK
HAL NIEDZVIECKI is a writer, speaker, and culture commentator whose work challenges preconceptions and confronts readers with the offenses of everyday life. He is the author of eleven works of fiction and nonfiction and the founder/publisher of Broken Pencil, the magazine of zine culture and the independent arts.
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