V I C K I G R A N T
46
“See what happens? Jessica, my old girlfriend,
didn’t know what was important, and I had to get
her tattoo burned right off.”
“Gee, that must have broken her heart,” I said
and grabbed his hand with both of mine.
This time I had a chance. I started pulling with
all my might, and I saw the C.C. tattoo on the inside
of his arm bulge. He tried to keep yammering away
as if this was nothing, but he was straining. He.
Talked. Like. This. He said, “I remember. When your
mother. Knew what was important.” I got up on one
foot and pushed as hard as I could.
He went, “Her and me. Used to have some times.
Back then.” I was standing right up now and using all
my body weight against him, and I didn’t care that
it was cheating. He was starting to pant. He said,
“Once. When she was about. Sixteen, we—”
That was the last I heard. Andy came tearing out of
the kitchen, screeching at him to “shut the [
beep
] up!”
Ooh, that made me mad. I’d almost won. And
I’d almost found out what was going on. But Andy
wasn’t going to let that happen. She screamed at
Byron. And then she screamed at me to brush my
teeth and go to bed.
I didn’t argue. I knew by the color of her face that
it wouldn’t get me anywhere. I told her I needed to
