Page 454 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“I’m sad, not stupid.”

// 3:01 PM //

“Now where the fuck’ve you been?”

From the top of the mausoleum,

Tony tilts his peanut-pigeon head at me.

I reach into my bag.

Break a cracker in half.

Throw it out in front of me.

He jumps down, hops next to my feet, and plucks the soggy piece from the snow.

“Knew you’d come. Got a thing for melancholy, don’t we, Tony?

“Sick bastard.”

// 3:14 PM //

Fingers numb, nose runny,

I finger-pick the same four chords.

Over and over again…

C – Am – Em – G…

Mom still doesn’t answer.

Dad still doesn’t answer.

Andrew still feels so far away.

I close my eyes,

keep picking the chords…

Again.

Again.

Again.

// 4:34 PM //

“Miss Taylor?”

I open my eyes.

It’s colder. My joints are sore.

Snow dusts the mausoleum bone-white.

The sun decays on the horizon,