"You saw what he wrote on my books," she said evenly. "Would you want me to stay there?"

"I… I just don't want you to leave," he said. "Where would you go? To your dad's house?"

She was making more sense now, and more eye contact, but Park still felt like someone had turned the world upside down and was shaking it.

"You could talk to your mom tomorrow," he said. "Everything might look different in the morning."

# Park #

She nodded.

"St Paul, Minnesota."

Eleanor pushed her curls out of her face one by one, like she was gathering her wits by hand. "I have to go," she said.

"Then… where?"

There was no room to sit at the table next to her, so he dropped to his knees and pulled her onto the dusty linoleum floor.

"But if you explained…"

"I don't know." She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "My uncle said I could spend the summer with him. Maybe he'll let me come up to St Paul early."

"No, he doesn't want me."

"I know," she sobbed, slumping forward. "I know…"

"But…" Park looked in Eleanor's eyes, and her hands fell to the table.

"He doesn't want me."

"To Minnesota."

"When are you leaving?" he asked. He pushed her hair out of her face and held it behind her head.

She was going to hitchhike.

"To the bus station?"

"For life."

"I don't have a better plan."

She figured she could walk as far as the Interstate, then she'd stick out her thumb for station wagons and minivans. Family cars. If she hadn't been raped or murdered -- or sold into white slavery -- by Des Moines, she'd call her uncle collect. He'd come to get her, even if it was just to bring her home.

"No," he said, "he'll ground me."

"But your dad will kill you."

# Eleanor #

"How are you going to get there? Have you called your uncle?"

"I'll drive you," he said.

"Park, no, your parents will never let you."

"Tonight," she said, "I can't go home."

"So I won't ask."

"Do you think I even care about that right now?" He held her face in his hands. "Do you think I care about anything but you?"

"You can't take the bus by yourself," Park said.

"No. I don't know. I thought I'd take the bus."