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I felt silly even mentioning it, but it was the fastest way to change the topic.
"Yeah, I'm dying to know," she said.
I looked down at my hands again.
"I wish I could help you," I said. "I really do. I wish there was something I could do."
"Well, there isn't, so stop thinking about it. Okay, what were the homework assignments for tomorrow?" she asked, and got up to get her notebook.
None of it seemed very important now, but I rattled it all off for her.
"I can help you with anything."
"I'll do it later," she said.
"You want to come over to do it? Ride your bike? Maybe you can come to dinner."
"No. My mother thinks I'm still not feeling well. I'll have to stay here tonight. Maybe tomorrow night," she added.
"Okay. Great."
I stood up and looked at her bedroom door.
"Why don't you put a chair up against it?" I suggested. "You know, brace it under the doorknob and . . ."
"Just go home, Zipporah," she said, and sighed as if I were a child "I'll see you on the bus in the morning."
"Right," I said. .I started out.
"Thanks for insisting on being my best friend," she said when I opened the door.
"You don't have to thank me."
"Okay, so I take it back," she said, and laughed.
Just like that, we were back to being who we were. It was as if we had both detoured through a nightmare and awoken together.
"Mindy Sages has a pimple the size of a pebble on the tip of her nose. You should see her. She walks around like this," I said, putting my hand over my face.
"She oughtta get one of those face masks that Arab women wear."
"Or just wear a bag over her head."
"Or wrap herself like the Invisible Man."
"Right. When you see her, you can
ask her who's her friend."
We laughed. Mindy Sages was one of the zeros Karen had identified from day one. She was always very snobby, especially to us.
"I'll walk you to the door," she said, suddenly full of happy energy. She followed me down the stairs.
Just as we opened the front door and I stepped out, her mother drove in.
"If you're sick, Karen, why are you having friends over?" she demanded after she rolled down her window.
"She brought me the homework, Mother. Is that all right?"
