Chapter Three
I must be nervous the way I’m riding the bike so erratically. I can’t quite think straight, and it’s raining. The sidewalks and the street are slick. Where the oil rises on the fallen rain, iridescent puddles make deathtraps for my bicycle tires, so I have to concentrate. I have to. I have a dozen jobs this afternoon, and am meeting Joseph downtown to buy my dress for tomorrow night. There is way too much to do.
A horn honks behind me, and I turn to see a truck gunning down the outside lane, so I hop the front tire onto the sidewalk. I’m almost at the tobacco shop, thankfully so, when something slips, and real time instantly disconnects. For what seems to be hours in my mind, everything is suspended above the earth, like me and my bicycle tire, and the handle bars, and even
