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The cop went over to his radio.
“Swan, will you go ahead and cruise up and down Phelps for me? We’ve gotten a report of suspicious activity, a woman fallen in the road.”
“Yes sir,” came a crackling voice.
“I can show you where it was,” Saber said.
“No. You haven’t been drinking?”
“No, nothing.”
“You are out way, way past curfew. And you,” he said, looking at Lozen, “are a minor that has been drinking alcohol. I believe that what you saw was concerning to you, but you need to go home, and stay there. Do you hear me?”
“But—” said Lozen self-righteously, color rising in her face.
“No, stop. I have your report, we’ll go check it out. I understand that you are acting out of concern, but now it is out of your hands. Go home.”
“Listen—” Lozen said again.
“It’s ok Lozen.”
Saber grabbed her hand and tugged her.
“Let’s go home.”
Lights were still on in her house when Saber and Lozen pulled into the driveway.
“Oh, shit,” Saber said. “I think my dad’s been waiting up.”
“Are you going to be in trouble?”
“I don’t really know. We have a weird relationship. Sometimes he’s my friend, sometimes he’s my dad. I didn’t have a curfew or anything.”
In the house, her dad was sitting at their dining room table, laptop open, a glass of wine beside him. He looked up at them when they walked in.
“Saber, it’s pretty late, isn’t it? Hi, Lozen.”
“How,” Lozen said in an affected faux-native voice, raising a hand. If she was trying to act sober, she was failing miserably.
“Sorry I’m home so late. We had to go to the police station. We saw a drunk woman on the road and thought she was hurt and that they should know about it.”
His eyebrows stitched together as he processed that unexpected answer.
“We never discussed a time for you to come home. Midnight, in the future, unless you make plans to spend the night somewhere and we talk about it.”
“Fair enough. You didn’t have to wait up for me.”
“First of all, yes, I did, and second, it’s ok. I’m working.”
“It’s almost one in the morning.”
“Ansel had some things he wanted to discuss and work on,” her dad said. “They told me he only really works at night when I got hired, but I didn’t think it was literal. He literally only works at night.”
“Weird,” Saber said. “Anyway, we’re really tired.”
“Same,” Jim said. “I hope I’m not too far behind you.”
Lozen and Saber went up to her bedroom and got ready for bed. Lying side by side after, trying to fall asleep, they stared at the ceiling. Saber replayed the night’s events and couldn’t help but think Lozen was doing the same.
