I walked the long way home so I could go through my favorite street. I like it because it has big trees and, when kids are at school, it’s quiet. Like superquiet. The trees are huge, so you can feel kind of small and protected. And, like I said, it’s quiet. Momma Jo said that when they first moved to California, she was a little freaked out. Then she discovered how quiet it can be here, because there’s enough space around for people to go to their own separate areas to be whoever they want to be and make whatever noise they want. “So I can go be pissed off somewhere nice and quiet,” she’d say. “Then come back and have dinner,” Mama Kate would always add. At some point I realized I was heading home, and I stopped. Had Kenneth White reported me to the principal? Probably. Picturing my moms talking to the principal about me, again, and feeling all worried and disappointed felt like a punch. I couldn’t take one more person looking at me like Thomas. Like Naoki. I couldn’t go home.
